The Broken Road
by silencedaflac
Summary: Formerly called 'Because of You' Chapter 13 up!. What happened between Days 3 and 4? What if it wasn't just Tony's drinking that drove Michelle away? TM fluff.
1. The Past

**A/n**: I don't own any of these characters. And my stories really don't contain any spoilers. Unless I so happen to guess the plot by chance. Thank you ahead of time for reading, and if you reply, it'd be very much appreciated! Thanks and enjoy!

**Chapter 1 – The Past**

**February 2005**

After all this time, there she was. Walking towards me. For a moment I couldn't decide whether this was a dream or whether this was actually real. I felt my heart skip a beat as my eyes fell upon her features, but almost as soon as I felt my momentary joy, I felt my heart break yet again. Memories of what used to be flooded my mind. Memories of how we used to be. I had done everything I could have possible done these past few months to erase my memories of CTU. To erase my memories of a past life. To erase her. But now, as I looked at her, even her hair was different. The luscious brown curls I loved curling gently behind her ears were gone. Replaced was long straight hair. Not that it took away from her beauty. But it represented her new life. Her new life without me. And when she finally saw me her eyes no longer held the same passion and love for me. Even for that split moment when I looked into her eyes I didn't even recognize her. And finally, I let out what I had been trying to say to Secretary Heller. "She used to be my wife."

(Lyrics are from R. Kelly "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time")

**How did I ever let you slip away  
Never knowing I'd be singing this song some day  
And now I'm sinking, sinking to rise no more  
Ever since you closed the door**

If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then my darlin' you'd still be mine  
If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then darlin' you, you'd still be mine

Funny, funny how time goes by  
And blessings are missed in the wink of an eye  
Why oh why oh why should one have to go on suffering  
When every day I pray please come back to me  


**If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then my darlin' you'd still be mine  
If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then darlin' you, you'd still be mine**

And you had enough love for the both of us  
But I, I, I did you wrong, I admit I did  
But now I'm facing the rest of my life alone, whoa

If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then my darlin' you'd still be mine  
If I could turn, turn back the hands of time  
Then darlin' you, you'd still be mine

I'd never hurt you (If I could turn back)  
Never do you wrong (If I could turn back)  
And never leave your side (If I could turn back)  
If I could turn back the hands

There'd be nothing I wouldn't do for you  
(If I could turn back)  
Forever honest and true to you  
(If I could turn back)  
If you accept me back in your heart, I love you  
(If I could turn back the hands)

(If I could turn back)  
That would be my will  
(If I could turn back)  
Darlin' I'm begging you to take me by the hands  
(If I could turn back the hands)

I'm going down, yes I am  
(If I could turn back)  
Down on my bended knee, yeah  
(If I could turn back)  
And I'm gonna be right there until you return to me  
(If I could turn back the hands)

(If I could turn back)  
If I could just turn back that little clock on the wall  
(If I could turn back)  
Then I'd come to realize how much I love you   
Love you love you love you  
(If I could turn back the hands)

-------

Almost immediately when she looked up she saw **_him_**. Her heart clenched at the sight of him. What was he doing here? What did he want now? And why on earth was he in the same room as Secretary Heller? Could it be? No. He couldn't be back here at CTU. She glanced up and saw him look at her and the surprise in his face was evident. She could feel herself losing her control, losing herself in his eyes. But to the world she maintained her composure. She knew that he would see through it, that he would know something was wrong, but she refused to let him read her. She refused to be even near him. After all, she would never forgive or forget what she had seen. Etched into her mind the painful memories of a day that was supposed to be one of great joy. But instead, it turned into the worst day of her life. After all, **_he _**had broken her heart…

---------

**March 2003**

Today was the day. After waiting for long months, today was the day. She would finally get to see him again. Tony was being released today. She didn't know how Jack had managed to convince the President to release Tony early, but she would be forever grateful. She was so excited she had managed to clean the microwave four times. She hadn't felt this nervous since their wedding day. A small smile crept across her face as she remembered that day.

**April 2000**

He was so nervous. The normally composed Tony was so nervous he kept stuttering during his vows. But the look she would remember forever was the one he gave her while she walked down the aisle. His mouth slightly agape at how beautiful she looked in her wedding gown and of course he looked so handsome in his tuxedo. He couldn't stop smiling that day and of course his smile was infectious to say the least. Even Jack commented about how Tony looked like a Cheshire cat grinning from ear to ear. She had committed to memory the vows her read to her. Never had she heard such sweet things said to her and her eyes watered as she remembered what he had said,

_Michelle, my beautiful Chelle, from the moment you walked into CTU I couldn't take my eyes off you. Your smile, your eyes. Everything about you. And for the longest time I didn't want to admit to myself what my heart already knew. I was falling for you. It seems silly now that I'm still so nervous standing up here with you. I mean I've known you for three years now and yet, every time I even look at you, I still get butterflies. I still get nervous and stutter. Call me a sucker for love, but I knew that you were the one when I called you at three in the morning to ask you what you were doing because I missed hearing your voice and instead of screaming at me, you told me you missed me too. You are perfect in every single way. Every night I sit awake in bed for hours sometimes wondering why someone as wonderful as you would be with me. You have given up so much to be with me. You could have easily moved up to a higher position with your qualifications, a job that would ensure your safety at all times. But you sacrificed all that just to be with me. And I cannot give you anything more than my heart. I love you more than life itself and I promise that if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you have made me. For you have given me a gift that even I do not know if I deserve. Chelle, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. You taught me not only how to trust, but you taught me how to love. I love you and I give you my heart, my body, my soul, my everything. Te amo."_

She held on to his every word. Staring into his deep brown eyes. Eyes that she could get lost in for hours. And when she saw a single tear drop from his eyes she felt tears streaming down her face as well. She could hardly believe it. Tony Almeida, tough guy of CTU was actually crying. And that was when she knew that they would last forever. They would withstand the tests of time and they would grow old with one another. Making good on the promises written in their vows. She had been so excited when the priest pronounced them husband and wife, she could hardly contain herself from jumping into his arms. And as he painstakingly slowly moved towards her, he whispered for her ears only, "I love you" before his lips covered hers in one of the most passionate kisses she had ever had. She kissed back and wrapped her arms around his neck digging her fingers into his gorgeous hair. And when they finally pulled apart, the small crowd cheered loudly for the newlyweds as they went back down the aisle. Tony placed his arm protectively around her waist while politely nodding at the well-wishers but every so often he would steal a glance at her and smile that smile that only he had.

Michelle was on in heaven. She couldn't believe that the man she had loved for so long was actually her husband. And although he looked so handsome in his tux she couldn't help but be excited for that night. He had been so respectful of her that he told her that he would wait until they were married before they made love. Even at one point, when she had felt pressured by Sarah's advances towards Tony, she told him with her best poker face that she was ready to take the next step in their relationship. She was so scared of losing him, especially after Sarah's continual snide comments that she had no idea how to please a man like Tony. And that once he got tired of her, she'd be yesterday's news. And if she didn't put out soon, Tony would get frustrated and leave her for someone who was more willing to satisfy him, someone like Sarah. However, despite her claim that she was ready for them to move to the next level, he had read right through her. He could tell that she wasn't ready for them to sleep together and instead of doing what most other guys would have done; he didn't take advantage of her that night. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and they both fell into a contented slumber.

But their wedding night was nothing but magical. They danced the night away as Tony held her in his strong arms, reluctant to let her dance with anyone else. However, when his mother and sister arrived demanding that they be able to dance with their son and big brother, he couldn't deny them that right. But even as he danced away with his sisters he kept an eye on her. She knew of this. She could feel his eyes on her while she danced with her father and upon catching his eye she smiled a shy smile. A smile that melted his heart. And he was restless when she left the room. Even if it was a quick trip to the ladies' room, he would crane his neck to see where she had gone and would only settle down after she was in his sight again. After all, he had made a promise to Michelle's father that he would do everything in his power to protect her. She was both of their angel's. Finally, after everyone had finally left the wedding, they had their first moments of time alone together. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "We're finally alone."

Michelle simply sighed into his chest, content for the moment. Tony then surprised Michelle, who let out a small shriek, by picking her up and carrying her up the stairs to the room. As soon as they were inside he kissed her hard. And she returned his kisses with just as much passion as he gave her. She wasn't sure how they had gotten onto the bed, but as he pulled away from her, he gave her a look of complete adoration and ever the gentlemen, he asked her, "Are you too tired? Cause if you are, we could you know just go to sleep tonight…"

He looked so vulnerable, so scared, and she found it absolutely adorable. But instead of saying anything, she let her actions speak for her and pulled him into another kiss and said, "I've never been more ready in my life." Michelle had had let's just say not the greatest of experiences with men in the past and although she was ready to be with Tony, she was terrified that she would disappoint him. That she wouldn't be good enough for him. She was vulnerable and she told him softly, "Tony, I'm nervous. I mean I want to do this. But I'm still nervous…I mean I haven't exactly had the greatest of experiences with men in my past and…"

Tony saw her vulnerability and simply replied, "Then that guy was a moron." And he slowly began to find the sweet spot on her neck. A spot she didn't even know existed, one that turned her into putty. And after hearing her moan, he smiled, contented that he had found it, and he said to her, "And that is the proverbial Achilles' heel."

"I didn't even know…" And then almost shyly she ventured, "Where's yours?"

Tony looked at her with caring eyes and replied, "That will be for you to find."

Michelle looked up at him with shy eyes, saying, "You mean it? You'll let me touch you?"

Tony looked at her with surprise and then said, "Let me get this through my head. He never told you how stunningly beautiful you are. He never tried to pleasure you – and he didn't want you to touch him while you were together? Then the guy never made love to you Chelle, he just wanted to have sex for his own pleasure. He was just looking for something to pleasure him while giving nothing in return." He studied her carefully as she knowingly came to the realization and said simply, "Oh." He pressed further on the issue saying, "And I'll bet he called you a freeze because you never came."

Michelle became more and more anxious as Tony continued to talk and she nervously bit her bottom lip. Was he angry at her? Did he not want to make love to her anymore? And how did he know all these things? It was like he could read her mind in every single way possible.

Tony then said to her, "Baby, I'm sorry. He's a jerk and he didn't deserve such a wonderful, beautiful, sexy person like you." He lovingly kissed her neck which sent shivers through her body. Noticing her response, Tony then said, "Frigid my ass. He was blaming you for all of his failings as a man. He couldn't please you so he made it seem as if you were too frigid to please. And I promise, that I will never fail you."

And with that Tony proceeded to make love to his wife. His wife. It still sent chills up his spine when he thought of her that way. He thought to himself, Michelle's my wife. How lucky am I? Tony took control of the situation and made it his duty as her husband to teach her what love was really all about. His kisses were long, sensual and hot. In a sense, they drugged her senseless. She forgot about everything except the feel of his lips on hers and as she deepened the kiss, he moaned into his mouth. She could feel his arousal through his dress pants growing and she could feel herself more turned on than ever. It shocked her that one man could make her so weak and so irrational. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, feeling his well built body, her lips never leaving his. He then proceeded to unhook her bra and for a second she tried to cover herself up. She had never though of herself as sexy. She had brown hair, brown eyes, she was plain. And on top of it, she didn't exactly have the Pamela Anderson "Oh My Good Look At My Boobs" kind of chest. However, Tony cradled her against him and using his fingers, he delicately traced the shape of her breasts. She then muttered, "Not much to see there, I'm pretty flat chested…"

Tony looked deeply into her eyes and said, "Sometimes great things come in small packages, and you're more than enough for me Chelle. The size of your breasts doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is simply being here with you. Holding you in my arms because you are truly the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on." After that, he gave her a cheeky grin and proceeded to flick his tongue around her breast.

"Tony!" she exclaimed both in surprise and pleasure. Finally, when both could restrain themselves no longer, they joined together. She had never experienced such pleasure. Normally it was over before she knew it had started. Most of her ex-boyfriends had been the "wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am" type of lovers. Never once trying to please her. But Tony, Tony was different. They made love for hours, he went slowly, ensuring that she had been pleasured in every way possible before allowing himself to climax. And finally, when they both collapsed from exhaustion she turned away to her side of the bed. Her other boyfriends had never wanted to cuddle after making love. Most of the time, they were fast asleep by the time she turned over to kiss them goodnight. She sighed in content. Tonight was so different. Tony had been the perfect lover in every aspect. And just when she thought her perfect night was coming to an end, Tony wrapped his strong arms around her waist, pulled her close to him and softly sung, "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world…" She felt her heart soar and just when she thought it wasn't possible for her to fall more in love with him, she fell just a little bit more and just a little bit harder.

(Lyrics are from Moulin Rouge, "Your Song")

My gift is my song and this one's for you  
And you can tell everybody that this is your song  
It may be quite simple but now that it's done  
Hope you don't mind  
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words  
**How wonderful life is now you're in the world  
**I sat on the roof and I kicked off the moss  
Well some of the verses well, they...they got me quite cross  
But the sun's been kind while I wrote this song  
It's for people like you that keep it turned on  
So excuse me forgetting but these things I do  
You see, I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue  
Anyway the thing is what I really mean  
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen  
And you can tell everybody this is your song  
It may be quite simple but now that it's done  
I hope you don't mind  
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words  
**How wonderful life is now you're in the world**

-----

**March 2003**

Michelle could hardly contain her excitement as Jack came over to pick her up. He and Kate had come over in order to welcome Tony back to his life and they could tell Michelle was eager as could be. She was grinning from ear to ear and impatient the whole ride there. Constantly making little remarks about how she wished they were the only car on the road so that she could get to Tony quicker. And finally, after what seemed like forever, they finally arrived she quickly got out of the car and almost sprinted into the waiting room of the prison holding Tony. And finally, after six long months of separation, she saw Tony. He looked disheveled, tired, and he had lost a considerable amount of weight, but to her, he was still the handsome man who swept her off her feet.

And as Jack filled out the proper paperwork, the warden released Tony and Michelle jumped into his arms. She didn't care that people were staring or the fact that she was running in 3 inched heels. All she cared about was getting to Tony. And when she reached him, her lips captured his and she just couldn't get enough of him. He lifted her up in his strong arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, without warning, he picked her up and twirled her around in circles joyously. He hadn't remembered feeling so happy since the last time he had been with her. The six months had been hell for him. Being confined in a room with many people he had helped put in prison, being restricted to reading books that had titles such as, "Are You Approaching Menopause?" and of course the highly popular, "Martha Stewart: Make Your Own Centerpiece for Your Dinner Party of 20." But worst of all, he had been isolated from Michelle. He had been denied visiting rights so his only form of communication with her were through the letters that he was allowed to get once a week.

He had doubted at times whether or not she would stay with him, especially when he thought that he would be put away for life. She deserved more than that. She deserved a husband who could be at home with her, a husband who could support her properly, and at that time he met neither of the two requirements. But seeing her now, she looked more beautiful than ever. He was so overjoyed to see her, he kept placing kisses along her neck, on her face, on anything he could get his lips on without publicly disgracing both of them. They had gone home that night to a quiet meal, ordering in Chinese while they both sat there, content in each other's arms. She laid her head on his chest as he gently stroked her hair. She hadn't felt so **_complete_** in such a long time. He completed her. He was her other half. And now that they were together, everything was perfect. They had made love that night. Both of them desperate for the other's touch. She was glad that he hadn't changed in that category. He was still as loving and passionate as before. But she did notice that something about him had changed. She couldn't quite place her hand on it, but she knew that Tony was different. There was something different about his eyes. The eyes that she had loved so much had changed. Something that he hadn't told her yet, but for the present time, she was willing to just enjoy being held in his arms. And for that moment, everything was perfect…or at least she thought…


	2. The Sight

**Chapter 2 – The Sight**

A/n: Again, I don't own anything. And after reading this Chapter, if you have any suggestions you have, like what you would like to see happen to the characters or what you think should be changed, please review and offer up your thoughts. They are all greatly appreciated, so read, review and enjoy!

Firefly is the name of an actual bar in Los Angeles. So obviously I don't own the rights to that either, but in this story, Tony is a bartender at Firefly, so just a heads up

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**August 2003**

She should have seen it coming. She should have noticed that something was different about him and tried to do something about it. But no, she was too blinded by love to notice. She was just so happy that he was home she stopped asking questions.

But in the end, she blamed herself for not noticing it earlier. She should have said something about it. But what could she say? Hey Tony, would you mind getting off the couch to get yourself a job? And it wasn't like he didn't try. He did try. The day after he got back he immediately set to work on writing up a resume. But time after time during interviews he was asked why he was released from CTU. And well, apparently, traitors, even pardoned traitors to America weren't the type of people companies are looking to hire.

And of course, every interview ended the same way. Tony's spirit deflated, him coming home, angry with himself for not being able to help support Michelle. But even more so, angry that the government he had worked so hard for refused to help him. Instead, they labeled him a traitor, an outcast. Hell, he bet that ex-murderers got jobs quicker than he did.

Soon, he turned to drinking. Michelle thought nothing of it at first, telling herself, convincing herself that he was only drinking to relieve some of his stress. At first, he'd have a beer in the afternoon while watching the game, and then sip on another while he made dinner for the two of them. And then one during dinner to help "digestion" and a couple after dinner while watching a movie. On a good night, he was hammered silly by midnight. Either that or passed out completely. Of course, on most nights, Michelle came home late and she couldn't help but be disheartened by the sight of so many empty beer bottles.

She tried to convince herself that everything would return to normal. That soon, Tony would get a job and that everything would go back to normal. But as the weeks progressed, Tony regressed. He became more secluded, and even when she tried to snuggle up against him, she could feel him distancing himself from her. But that wasn't the worst part. What was worse was when Tony went out late into the night or early into the following morning, whichever way you put it.

She worried about him endlessly. She worried if he was drunk and if he was driving. She had little power to control him. With the shortage of staff at CTU, she had been forced to work overtime many nights. And coming home to an empty house was just a little to reminiscent of coming home when Tony had been in prison. She cried herself to sleep many nights. Wondering how they had ended up at such a place. And what was worse was when insomnia plagued her late into the night, the tears flew more freely and even when Tony came into bed, he wouldn't notice that she had been crying. A far cry from the old Tony. The old Tony would have immediately noticed her crying and comforted her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear all the while.

It was not a few months ago when Tony could have been crowned the most wonderful husband in the world. He would always make little comments about how beautiful she was. And he would kiss her eyes to wake her up in the morning. Now, he was hung over in the mornings. How she missed those times. She missed Tony. She missed her Tony. The Tony that would tickle her just to see her smile and then kiss her while he told her how gorgeous she looked.

He rarely talked to her. She knew that he was a quiet person who preferred silence over words, but not with her. He used to love talking to her…after he got over his initial shyness that is. He was the strong silent type. And when she had told him that when she first met him she thought he was shy, he had immediately defended himself, playfully saying that he preferred to call it "quiet confidence." He hadn't laughed with her in months. The only conversation they had been having lately consisted of him asking her if she had bought more beer.

Then finally, one Saturday morning, the phone rang. It was for Tony. He had finally gotten a job. A job as a bartender at a local bar not too far from where they lived. It was a far cry from the position he held at CTU, but still, it was a start. Michelle was thrilled out of her mind. And for the first time in a long while, Tony looked as if he was excited too. Of course, she wasn't sure if he was simply excited at the prospect of getting free beer or the fact that he was slowly getting back on his feet, but whatever his reason, Michelle was just relieved he had finally found a job.

They had celebrated that night by making love for the first time in weeks. This was another thing Michelle had noticed. In the beginning when they were married, Tony could barely keep his hands off her and vice versa. Kim and Kate had told her that they had never felt as much sexual tension as they had felt when they were around Tony and Michelle. Back in the day, he could send shivers throughout her body through the simplest of actions, such as huskily whispering her name.

But even as they made love, Michelle didn't feel the passion she felt on their wedding night. And that scared her. She always thought that regardless of the situation, Tony would always love her. For the first time in their relationship, she doubted whether or not he still loved her. But as soon as that thought entered her mind, she pushed it aside chiding herself for doubting his love. After all, he had risked his life, his career, everything in order to save her life.

------

**September 2003**

Tony had been at his job for a few weeks now and well, being Tony, he was quite popular around the bar. He had made friends quickly and on an off night, he brought over all his new friends back home to have a couple of beers and watch the game. Of course, after a few beers and a few smokes, the guys were plastered. Swearing loudly at the TV while slurring about how they could have all done better in the big leagues than some of the hitters.

They also rambled incoherently about how many girls they had had in the past. One of the guys, Marco had even made a comment about how one of the waitresses, Kara had the hots for Tony. Tony laughed it off, telling them he had a wife, but being as drunk as he was, he couldn't help but try to remember what Kara looked like. He remembered, sort of, okay vaguely, what she looked like and as he contemplated about whether or not she was hot, another one of the guys, Rich announced to everyone that he'd bet Kara was a good lay. Not wanting to stand out, Tony joined in laughing.

Michelle on the other hand, had just had a terrible day. It was discovered that a mole had once again been working in CTU and selling classified information to suspected terrorists. Hammond had crapped in his pants about the possibility of another mole and literally sent a third of the work force home based on "suspicious activity." Of course that meant that Michelle and a few other loyal workers had to take on the bulk of the work.

And in addition to the nervousness regarding another mole at CTU, there also seemed to be a flu going around CTU. Edgar had been sent home earlier to prevent the cold he had from spreading. Michelle knew her immune system was weak at that moment, and she felt a little under the weather herself. She was exhausted, and all she wanted to do was to go home, take a nice, hot shower and sleep. She had been feeling extremely tired these past few days and she blamed it on her long days at CTU.

Upon arriving home, the last thing she expected was to have a small battalion of drunken men yelling in her home. As she entered the room, a few of the men catcalled at her and whistled, which caused Tony to look over. He told them to quiet it down and introduced her to his friends. Marco, Rich, Carl and Brett. Marco, Rich and Carl were too plastered to really notice too much about her. But Brett gave her a once-over that made her just a little edgy. He seemed to have this look in his eye, a look that she wasn't comfortable with. A look that Tony would have noticed had he been sober. And she could have sworn that as she saw him lick his lips a little as he looked her up and down.

She told Tony that she had just had a terrible day and that the boys were welcome to stay so long as they tried to keep it quiet. Michelle sighed upon entering their bedroom. She couldn't believe that Tony was yet again drunk. He used to welcome her home with a kiss. Now, he welcomed her home with an alcohol laden breath. Not exactly every girls' dream.

She took her shower and then plopped down on the bed, exhausted from the days' work. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow and when she woke up the next morning, Tony was passed out on the couch. She sighed as she looked at the mess in her living room. Empty beer bottles strewn about everywhere, chips spilt here and there, it was a mess. She slowly began to pick up the remnants of yesterday's semi-party. She also noticed there was a new message on their answering machine. She clicked on the proper buttons and she didn't recognize the voice. A voice of a woman no doubt, but from where she had no idea. It said:

"Hey Tony. It's me, Kara, just wanted to let you know that you're needed here tonight to work an extra shift. One of the other bartenders is sick with that flu that's been going around. And well, you're the only guy we could call. If you could give me a call back, that'd be great. Oh, and thanks for dinner a couple of nights ago!"

At first, Michelle just ignored it, realizing it was a call from someone at work. But the last part had intrigued her. Dinner? With a woman? That wasn't herself? He hadn't taken her out to dinner in ages and yet he was taking some girl out to dinner? She could feel her heart stop as she thought of the possibility…did he cheat on me? No. She viciously swept that thought away from her head. He wouldn't. Tony loves me. He would never cheat on me. Would he?

Michelle wanted to wake Tony up right there and then and demand an answer. And it seemed like she got her wish as Tony began to stir. He was still groggy from the past night's events and in her calmest voice, she treaded gently,

"Tony there was a girl, Kara, I think was her name that called and she wanted you to work an extra shift tonight because one of the bartenders is sick or something."

Tony grunted his understanding and mumbled a 'thank you' before rolling over to try to get back to sleep. Michelle looked at him and then mustering up her courage said, "She also mentioned thanks for dinner, and well I didn't know you guys had dinner, where'd you go?"

Tony turned around and looked at her while replying, "Oh yeah, we had dinner at the club where we work and well she offered to pay but I said I'd pay for it. She's a little short on cash as it, I mean she's a waitress and well tips haven't been great, so I just paid for her dinner."

Upon hearing this, Michelle let out the breath she had been holding. She was relieved that he had just offered to pay for her dinner at the club and that he didn't take her out or anything. She scolded herself for even having such thoughts about Tony. After all, he was her husband. He wouldn't cheat on her, he wouldn't betray her. Content with his answer, she went off to work.

Later that day, Tony too got ready to go to work. Although his job now could never compare to the job he held down at CTU, he couldn't help but be glad he had found a job. It was an easy enough job to like, the other bartenders had even called him a natural. The tips were good on most nights, the customers friendly, and of course the waitresses weren't exactly an eye sore. As he whipped up another Pearl Martini, Kara made her way over to Tony. With her body seductively leaning over the bar, making sure her cleavage was impossible to miss, she then calmly said,

"Hey Tony, I just wanted to thank you once more for coming in tonight. I mean, look at us, we've got four bartenders and we're still swamped with orders, so it's really appreciated."

Tony glanced up and well, being a red-blooded male he couldn't help but notice how she was so obviously pushing up her cleavage into his face and to the drunken forty year old man drooling as if he had entered heaven early. He immediately whipped his eyes back to her eye level and fumbled,

"Uh…yeah, no problem. I mean, I had nothing better to do tonight anyway, so might as well be earning a couple of extra bucks around here. And if you'll excuse me, that man is calling for his sixth scotch. I'll talk to you later."

Kara knew that she had an effect on Tony and frankly, she liked it. She liked the idea that she had control over men. From the minute Tony had been hired, she and a few of the other waitresses had taken an immediate liking to Tony. After all, what was not to like? He was dark, handsome, and very well built. The fact that Tony had a wife did not faze Kara at all. And frankly, when she liked something, she went for it and she was always up for a challenge. Regardless of the situation. After all, she **always** got what she wanted. And as she took one more glance at Tony, she saw in him a man that she knew would fulfill her every need. And she liked what she saw…

All of those years at CTU had paid off, as unbeknownst to Kara, Tony was more than aware of her advances towards him. He looked at her and he saw nothing. Sure she had an impressive cleavage, and she was pretty to look at, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw nothing. None of the passion that him and Michelle had shared. All he saw was a pretty girl running around carrying drinks. (Which I'm sure many people would have thought was the ideal girl for Tony…)

And Kara was different from Michelle in almost every way possible. For starters instead of having Michelle's gorgeous brown curls, Kara had straight blonde hair and replacing Michelle's mesmerizing brown eyes were clear bright blue ones. Michelle was petit, something Tony had immensely liked because that way it always gave him an excuse to hold her and keep her close to him. Kara on the other hand, was quite model looking. Long legs and she stood quite tall, only a little bit shorter than he was with her heels on.

Tony had also sensed that Kara wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack and one of the things that he loved about Michelle was her intelligence. He fell in love with her confidence and her intelligence, not her bust and rear size. Of course he loved those things about Michelle too, but he fell in love with something that would never change. After all, regardless of how beautiful a girl was at the moment, beauty dissipates with age. But intelligence and confidence, things like that last forever. And as he continued working, he couldn't help the small smile that had reached his face. Unfortunately, Kara too noticed this small smile, and mistakenly took it that her advances had been well received…

**Meanwhile…**

Carrie sat at her desk, furious that Michelle had been promoted to CTU base leader. How was it that she did nothing but got everything? And I mean she has a psycho brother! I bet that psycho gene runs in the family. Who in their right mind allows their brother to strangle his ex-girlfriend? And of course everyone had once again fawned over poor, innocent, precious little Michelle when she had gotten kidnapped. And Tony just had to be her knight in shining armor and run off after her. Now, he was gone from CTU. A thought that unbeknownst to anyone else, greatly saddened Carrie.

No one knew of her secret infatuation with Tony. Right from the moment she had met him, he inadvertently swept her off her feet. Of course, initially she had been attracted to his appearance, and why not? He was sexy. He had that whole brooding thing going on and that voice. It melted her heart every time he spoke to her. But as she got to know, she admired his passion for the job and his intelligence. She enjoyed the brief moments she was able to talk to him and always took a little more pleasure when she saw Michelle cautiously watching the two of them interact out of the corner of her eye. Sadly for her, those days were gone. Stupid Michelle had to go and ruin it. That b!tch. She didn't deserve Tony. She wasn't good enough for Tony. No one was good enough for Tony except herself.

Which was exactly why she was already in the process of planning a way to break them up. And who better to enlist in her plan than a person Tony had daily contact with…Tony and Michelle were CTU's golden couple up until Tony had been declared a traitor to this country. She knew that he must be vulnerable, and from the way Michelle looked these days, she kind of figured there wasn't much late night action going on. Carrie smiled to herself, as she thought to herself, 'I'm exactly what Tony needs. A woman who can please him and love him properly. After all, Michelle doesn't even look grateful for Tony's sacrifice. If I were his wife, I'd make sure he knew every day how much I loved him…'

She was soon snapped out of her dreams by none other than Michelle. Michelle had noticed Carrie had this smug smirk plastered onto her face for the past couple of minutes and had approached her tentatively. Michelle asked Carrie to finish the de-brief that Division needed completed within the hour, to which Carrie smugly replied, "No problem, princess." She had whispered the last word, but even then, Michelle could have sworn Carrie had just called her princess, which was slightly creepy. After leaving Carrie's workstation, Michelle set back to work on her own assignments. And as Michelle left, Carrie dialed a well known number now…after all, by now, Kara should have woken up…

--------

Coincidentally, that morning one of the staff members at CTU had brought a "Happy Birthday" cake for Chloe. An unusual occurrence for the members of CTU to be cheery and slightly more relaxed that normal. However, that cake seemed to bring ill fate, as some of the staff soon fell ill from food poisoning. Unfortunately, Michelle had been one of them. They had all been looked over once by the doctor. Hammond was still reeling from the discovery that Sarah had been a mole, so he was determined not to send any more of his staff home. However, for the better part of the morning, the food poisoning inflicted staff members spent most of their time inside of the rest rooms, so after lunch, Hammond had no choice but to send them home early.

Michelle had been one of the last staff members to be checked over by the CTU resident doctor. It seemed that she also seemed to be running a small fever and the doctor had wanted to make sure that she was alright. Michelle refused to be sent home, and in order to gain clearance from the doctor, he told her that he just needed to run a few tests to make sure that her body was in enough shape to return to work. The doctor wanted to be extra careful with Michelle, as word has just come in that Edgar had been rushed to the Emergency room from his illness. The doctors had diagnosed him with acute bronchitis in addition to severe exhaustion. He was to remain in intensive care for a few days before being released. And well, Michelle had worked in close proximity with Edgar and there was no telling whether or not she had also contracted a similar flu.

After what seemed like an eternity, her tests results came back and with that, the doctor gave her the verdict. Michelle was stunned. How could it be? But no. Not right now. They couldn't lose her right now. Dr. Hovaugh asked her if she just wanted some time alone to think about what he had just told her. And Michelle just stared blankly at him. How did this happen? The timing couldn't have occurred at a worse time. Just when CTU needed her the most she was going to be forced to leave them. And what about Tony? How would be take the news? What if he leaves me when I need him most? What are we going to do? And for the next little while, Michelle sat in the doctor's office, wondering how it had all happened.

After a long and agonizing thought process, Michelle decided to tell Tony. After all, he deserved to know. And with her newfound information, she purposely strode out the doors of CTU, citing illness to Hammond. As Michelle picked up her belongings to leave, Carrie made one more call and as Michelle left the building, Carrie couldn't help but smile. Everything was in place and soon, the precious princess would lose her title…

-----

(A/n: I had originally thought of stopping the Chapter here, but I felt that was sort of mean, so instead I'll continue and get to the point behind the title of this Chapter)

--------

Tony went off the work, frustrated. Frustrated that even though he had gone out and gotten himself a job, Michelle still didn't seem satisfied with all of his work. Nothing ever seemed to be enough for her. Maybe it was all just a waste of time for him to try. And he had to admit, he was also just a bit sexually frustrated. They hadn't made love in ages and he didn't know what was wrong with her. First, she told him to go and get a job, which he did, but now she seemed moodier than ever. She seemed to be distancing herself from him and he didn't understand why.

But when he was at work, everything was different. Kara flirted shamelessly with him, and even Jack had picked up on Kara's very suggestive behavior. Jack had come to visit him a few days ago, bringing along Kate for a couple of drinks. They had caught up on old times and as it turned out, Jack and Kate were really happy and their relationship was a very successful one. A far cry from the norm one would say. Normally, it was Tony with the luck with the ladies, and Jack, well, Jack didn't exactly have all the luck with the ladies. But now, as Tony saw how in love Jack and Kate were, he couldn't help but feel a little empty inside. Him and Michelle used to be like that. Key word, "used." Now, they were so distant. And he wasn't sure of what to do.

Tony had woken up early today, unable to sleep as he watched Michelle sleep. They used to sleep in each other's arms, now, they slept on opposite sides of the bed. He wasn't sure who was to blame for their growing apart. Of course, afternoon TV wasn't exactly prime picking, so he decided to head off to work a little early. Actually, quite early, as in 3pm early, especially when his shift didn't start until close to 7pm. As he arrived at Firefly, he was surprised to see that Kara was there too. He casually asked her, "Hey, what are you doing here so early?"

At first, Kara looked shocked at hearing another voice, but upon realizing it was Tony, she broke into a wide grin. This was even better than planned. Tony was here early, early enough for her to set the plan in motion. Kara, although she wouldn't be up for any Nobel prizes anytime soon, was not as stupid as everyone took her to be. She had noticed early on that Tony liked to play the knight in shining armor role. She had noticed this when he came to the rescue of some stupid drunken girl who was being pushed around by two guys twice her size. Of course, Tony had amicably told the guys to scram while ensuring that the girl had a cab to take her home. And Kara knew that she could use this all to her advantage.

Kara then replied with an obvious strain in her voice, "Just stuff at home and I kind of wanted to get away." Kara played the role of the wounded puppy dog perfectly, as sure enough, Tony was quick to ask, "What's wrong?"

Kara then went through to rehearse the very thoroughly fibbed out story that Carrie had told her to say. The story consisted of Kara's boyfriend becoming increasingly aggressive towards her and how he had cheated on her numerous times despite his claim that he loved her. She just didn't know what to do anymore. She had tried to do everything right in order to gain his love and approval. Kara was very pleased with her own performance as she looked up and saw Tony looking down at her concernedly, while hanging onto her every word. She then sniffed away some fake tears and through it she said, "Maybe I'm just not good enough for anyone. I mean I tried so hard and yet I still failed. Maybe I'm just not meant to be loved…"

As Kara trailed off, Tony immediately leapt into his white knight mode, telling her that she was a great person and that any man who couldn't appreciate her was a fool and didn't deserve her. For a moment when she looked into his eyes, she almost saw something, but as soon as that thought appeared, she pushed it out of her mind. She remembered her deal with Carrie. Carrie got Tony and Kara, well, Kara was well compensated for her troubles.

Of course afterwards, Tony offered to make her a drink to make her feel better, and she accepted. Of course Tony also made himself a drink and by then another bartender had come in so he refilled their drinks. Actually, only Tony's. Kara had been careful to only sip on her drink to make sure that everything went as planned. She knew that Tony was a heavy drinker and that once he began, well; it was hard to stop him. By 6:00pm, Tony had already had at least 3 beers and a Long Island Ice Tea's in addition to an insane number of shots. He was pretty well tipsy.

As Kara continued to sip on her virgin margarita, she couldn't help but be pleased with how easy Tony had been to manipulate. He was such a fool. A sweet guy nonetheless, but a complete fool. She looked at him while he was slurring on about how he wasn't getting any action at home and she knew that this was her cue to jump in. She innocently ventured, "What do you mean? I thought you and Michelle were…"

Tony interjected stupidly saying, "Michelle doesn't want to have sex. All she wants to do is work. She wakes up too early in the, what do you call it, morning! Morning! She wakes up too early in the morning and comes home late at night. Then she just sleeps. God, I haven't had sex for the longest time. I mean how does she expect me to deal with this? I was in prison for um…cripes I can't remember how long but a goddamn long time and now that I'm home, I'm not getting any more action than I was at prison!"

Kara then began to rub his arm affectionately whispering, "Well, you never know when you might just get lucky…"

----

Michelle was well on her way to Firefly. She knew that Tony had a shift later that night and she had hoped to catch him before he started working so that she would be able to properly talk to him and discuss what they were going to do. She desperately hoped that he hadn't started drinking yet and that he was still sober. However, as she drove on, she couldn't help but feel anxious. How would Tony react to this? Would he leave? Who wants to be stuck with a woman with that much baggage? Especially since he was just getting back on his feet, he would once again have to stop his own life in order to compromise for hers. She felt guilty for doing this again.

She soon realized she had never been to Firefly. She knew the vicinity of the region, but she had no idea where it actually was. Of course she couldn't call Tony or else he would know something was up, so she called the person that knew Tony best next to her, Jack. Coincidentally, Jack was also on his way over to Firefly to watch the game that night and he gave her directions to Firefly. He told her that he was only a few minutes away from Firefly and when Michelle asked him not to tell Tony she was coming, Jack, being Jack, couldn't help but be a little suspicious. Of course when he asked Michelle about it, she just told him it was really important and Jack just left it at that. He promised that he would wait outside in his car until Michelle arrived to make sure that she got there safely. Michelle thanked him once more before wondering to herself about whether she had just passed Elm Street of Ventura Boulevard.

-----

Kara now had Tony wrapped around her pinky, as his inhibitions had been lowered by the alcohol in his body. She kept listening to him ramble off about how one moment he didn't know what the hell Michelle wanted and the next about how much he loved her. As time progressed, in other words, as Tony got even more drunk, Kara placed her hand on his leg, rubbing up and down his leg seductively. Tony was too drunk to notice most of this, and the only thing he noticed was when his drink was starting to empty.

As it approached the after work drinking hour, the bar became more crowded with people, and Kara suggested,

"You know what? It's really loud in here. Let's step out onto the balcony, and here, let me get you a refill on that…"

Tony grunted his agreement while Kara led him out onto the balcony. They continued talking about problems in both of their lives, and as their conversation progressed, Kara became increasingly suggestive careful to maintain some sort of physical contact with Tony the whole time he talked. He talked about how he missed Michelle and how he missed the times they used to share. The love that once existed, but had now been buried under deep layers of pain. Kara sympathetically said,

"I know how you feel. To love someone so much and not have them feel the same way about you…"

With that, she looked deep into his eyes, and kissed him.

And to her surprise and delight, Tony kissed back.

But in Tony's mind, he wasn't kissing Kara. His thoughts revolved solely around Michelle. And in his mind, that was who he was kissing. Michelle. His Chelle.

---------

After much effort, Michelle finally found Firefly. It was actually quite a nice bar. It had an impressive view of the ocean, and it wasn't as seedy as she had originally thought it was. And at the front of the bar was Jack, waving her over. She waved back appreciatively, glad that Jack had once again helped her.

After Tony went to prison, she and Jack had become friends almost immediately. He was like the older brother that she never had. Well, technically, she had Danny, but well, Danny wasn't always in the right state of mind and she never could talk to Danny without him raising his voice. Jack on the other hand, was very receptive whenever she told him of her problems whether they be missing Tony or simply missing the company of another person. Michelle had also gotten to know Kate really well and she couldn't help but be happy for both Jack and Kate that they had found each other.

As she parked her car, Jack came up to the driver's side and said, "Hey Michelle. Hope it wasn't too hard to find. But Tony should be inside and I've kept quiet because you wanted to surprise him right?"

"Yeah, thanks Jack…" replied Michelle

And just as Michelle replied, Jack's cell phone rang. He looked down, and said with a small smile on his face, "It's Kate. I'll take this, but just go in there and you have any problems finding him, just ask Kara, she's the blonde waitress that works with Tony…"

Michelle nodded her appreciation and made her way into the bar. When she got in, she looked around for Tony. She couldn't find him or the blonde waitress that Jack spoke of, so she asked the bartender on duty if he knew where Tony or Kara was. The bartender told them that they had gone out to the balcony a few minutes ago. Michelle told him thanks and proceeded to make her way out towards the balcony.

Michelle could feel little butterflies build up in her stomach as she made her way towards the balcony. She was nervous, but at the same time, she really wanted to see Tony.

But then, Michelle saw something.

Something that tore her heart into a million tiny pieces.

She saw Tony.

and another girl.

Kissing.

"No" she silently whispered to herself as the tears began to flow. "It can't be."

Tony, the man she loved above all others was in the arms of another woman. And he was kissing her. She turned and ran.

Ran as quickly as she possibly could.

Her heart was pounding, the pain in her chest almost unbearable as she tore through the doors of the bar.

By the time she had exited the bar, she had drawn more than a few glances her way. And then of course, as she exited the bar, there was Jack. And as soon as he saw her, he immediately told Kate that he'd call her back and approached her.

"Michelle? Michelle? Are you okay? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Did someone try to hurt you? Michelle? Come on Michelle, tell me."

By then, Michelle had reached her car, but the moment she heard Jack's voice, tears streamed even harder down her face. She soon collapsed onto her knees, tears ever falling.

Jack was beyond concerned by now as she had not spoken to him, but continued to cry endlessly. He then said to her,

"You know what? You stay right here, I'm going to go and get Tony for you, okay Michelle?"

Upon hearing **_his_** name, Michelle cringed, and immediately exclaimed, "NO!"

Jack looked shock at her opposition and questioned her once again.

"Michelle, what's wrong? Why don't you want me to go and get Tony?"

Michelle looked at him through tear-strained eyes and said, "It's time for me to say goodbye to you Jack…I'm leaving Los Angeles."

Jack looked at her, confused for a moment, and then asked,

"Is this what you came to tell Tony? That you were leaving? Then why don't you go back in and tell him? Did he not take it well? I mean if he doesn't want you to go that's understandable, but he loves you Michelle. Nothing will ever change that."

Michelle scoffed at his last remark and she said, "No, I didn't tell Tony. I wanted to, but I couldn't. And please Jack, don't ask me any more questions."

By now, Jack was beyond confused. She didn't tell Tony she was leaving? Why? As Michelle saw the different emotions go through Jack's face, she once again tried feebly to reassure him,

"Jack, it's nothing. Please do not worry about it."

Jack was beginning to get frustrated. This just didn't make sense. And he was determined to get to the bottom of this. And he demanded,

"Michelle, tell me what's going on."

Michelle struggled desperately to control her emotions. They were completely spinning out of control as that scene kept replaying in her mind. The normally composed and calm Michelle now found herself on the verge of a breakdown. She then pleaded with Jack,

"Jack, you are one of my best friends. But please, do not ask any more questions. Just please. I need to go now. I do Jack. I just need to get out of here. Please, keep Tony at the bar for at least another couple of hours. And please don't tell him I was here. Please Jack."

Jack saw the pleading look in her eyes, and although torn between his loyalties to Tony, he reluctantly agreed. He had never seen Michelle in so much pain. Her eyes expressed all of the pain she felt at the moment, and Jack couldn't help but be concerned for her well being.

"Promise me Jack. Please, promise me that you won't tell Tony anything I've just told you. And please, don't tell him I was here."

Jack solemnly replied, "I promise Michelle."

Michelle sighed with relief and said, "Thank you Jack. Thank you for everything." Before getting into her car and driving into the distance.

Jack stared at her car as she slowly drove out of his sight and couldn't help but wonder, what the hell happened in there?

And as Michelle drove down the roads, the tears that had threatened to flow while she talked to Jack flew freely once more.

A/n: Read and review! Your reviews are much appreciated!


	3. The Letter

A/n: Thank you to all of the people who have so kindly decided to review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well! (And just an advance warning, but I'm going to have to alter some of the time lines of things to fit my story.)

**Chapter 3 – The Letter**

Although Kara had thought Tony was drunk beyond control, the truth was, Tony still had some sense of what was going on. He just lost control of reality for a split second there and as soon as he came back to reality, he immediately pushed Kara away. He vehemently proclaimed, "No! You. No. You're not Michelle. The only one I love is Michelle."

He staggered drunkenly a few steps backwards and then demanded, "You won't tell anyone this happened. And you know what? Nothing happened. You don't mean anything to me. There is only one person that I will ever love and that is Michelle. No one will ever replace her. Never."

Kara of course had never seen that look of desperation in his eyes and wondered for a second if she had done the right thing by working with Carrie in the first place. But then she remembered a little thing called money and that guilty thought was erased. Instead, she played the role of the wounded puppy dog and instantly cast her eyes downward, solemnly replying, "Of course, Tony. No one will know of this."

She paused for a second, looking into his eyes, and what she saw she never wanted to see again. It was the sight of a man so broken down it looked as if he could barely hold himself up. The strong, definitive Tony she had once known was no longer there. Replacing him was this Tony, one whose eyes betrayed the immense guilt he was feeling.

She spoke up once more, this time out of genuine concern, saying, "I'm sorry Tony. I…I…don't know what I was thinking. I'll just…I'll just go back to work now. And I promise, I won't say a word to anyone. Honest." Tony silently nodded his understanding of her leaving and instead of looking at her, he looked towards the ocean. A magnificent sunset played right before his eyes and all he could think of was that he didn't deserve to even see such a sight.

How could he have been such a fool? How could he have kissed Kara? He stormed back into the bar, grabbing his jacket from his locker, preparing to leave before he felt a rough hand on his shoulder. Soon, he was jerked back by none other than Brett, his boss.

"Where the hell do you think you're going Almeida?" Brett demanded.

"I'm going home. I don't feel well." Tony lamely made up.

"You move your ass one step out of this bar's door and you're fired, you got that? We're up to our necks with orders and you want to leave because you're feeling a 'bit under the weather?' Forget it Tony. You move one step out of that door you're fired. For good. And trust me, I've got contacts in lots of bars so don't expect to be working anytime soon after I fire your sorry ass."

So with little choice, Tony shoved his jacket back into his locker and slammed the door going back to work. Upon reaching the bar, he saw Jack come in from outside. Jack glared at him, but remembered his promise to Michelle that he would keep Tony at the bar for at least a couple of hours. Jack didn't know exactly what had happened in the bar, but he knew that something had happened with Tony. Something big. Something that had made Michelle break down and cry like he had never seen.

And Jack couldn't help but be slightly angry. Michelle had grown to be like a younger sister to him. Ever since she had gone against the wishes of her superior to help Jack prove that the Cyrus tape was a fake, she had earned his trust. And during the time Tony was kept in prison, it had been his shoulders she cried on. He had played the role of her big brother when Danny was too inhibited to comfort her. Jack treated Michelle like she was his little sister, and Kate knew of this.

At first, Jack was afraid that Kate would get jealous, but instead, Kate had been nothing but supportive. She too had taken Michelle under her wing despite their relatively non-existent age gap. After losing Marie to terrorists, Kate needed someone to look after. That was one thing about Kate, she always had these maternal instincts. Even though the age gap between herself and Michelle was almost non-existent, Kate still cared for Michelle and during her hardest hours, was always there for her. And Michelle needed to be looked after when she lost Tony. Jack was angry at Tony. Something he had never felt before. Tony was always his best friend. They had always stood up for each other and helped each other through thick and thin.

But now, Jack knew that Tony had done something to hurt Michelle and he couldn't help but want to hit him. However, Jack knew that hitting Tony wouldn't solve anything and instead, pretending like nothing was wrong between the two of them Jack waved to Tony, and then sat down on a stool and ordered a beer. Jack tried to make small talk, asking Tony, "Hey man, how's it going?"

Almost immediately Jack noticed a change in Tony's demeanor. For starters, he was more nervous. His eyes kept darting around and he answered Jack a little too hastily, mumbling, "I'm fine. Fine. Why? How are you doing Jack?"

Jack tried to play it cool, and replied, "I'm doing well, Tony. What's the score?"

That night had been the deciding game seven between Tony's beloved Chicago Cubs and their always annoying nemesis the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs had fought from three down to tie up the series at three apiece. Tonight, would be the deciding game to see which of the two teams would take the long-awaited trip to the World Series. Instead of answering wholeheartedly, Tony simply replied, "I'm not sure. Who's playing?"

Jack almost fell over in his seat as he heard Tony's response. It was then that Jack **KNEW **something was wrong. Tony would have **never** said that. NEVER. Especially not when a trip to the World Series was on the line for his Cubs. Jack immediately started to pay more attention to Tony and noticed that Tony was distracted beyond imagination. Instead of bringing Jack a beer, Tony made Jack a Cosmopolitan with a little furry umbrella in it. Jack stared at the drink in surprise as the man sitting beside Jack struggled to stifle a laugh. (Who wouldn't laugh if they saw tough Jack Bauer sitting with a Cosmopolitan with an umbrella?)

First off, while Jack was no drink expert, he knew that Cosmopolitans didn't come with umbrellas. And secondly, a Cosmopolitan wasn't beer, which was what Jack had ordered. Jack then managed to say, "Um Tony? Tony, this wasn't exactly what I ordered."

Tony immediately looked down at the drink he had managed to make Jack and embarrassed, he mumbled a quick sorry before rushing to get the beer Jack had asked for. Jack had never seen Tony so nervous. Even in times of crisis at CTU, Tony was composed. Always the image of the strong, gallant leader. But now, looking at Tony, Tony looked as if he knew that there were people in that very bar looking to kill him.

Of course Tony was preoccupied with thoughts of what to do. What should he do? Do I tell Michelle I made a mistake and kissed Kara? God I wish I didn't have this pounding head ache so I could think properly. Christ, where are aspirins when you need them? Tony's head shot up as a burly man demanded yet another beer. Tony set about getting it for him when he saw Kara.

He froze. He had completely forgotten that she had worked here too. His mind was only on Michelle. And when Tony froze, Jack noticed this. His eyes followed Tony's to the blonde girl he was staring at and recognized her as Kara. He didn't exactly know what the hell was going on between the two of them, but when he saw Tony angrily whip his eyes away from her, Jack felt content that nothing was going on. Tony gave the man his beer and went back to pretending to be interested in watching the game.

It was almost 3 am when Tony was finally finished tidying up the bar. Jack had remained faithful to the promise he made Michelle and made excuses in order to keep Tony preoccupied at the bar. When Tony got ready to leave, Jack offered him a place to crash for the night. Tony politely turned down the offer and said that he really needed to get home to Michelle.

Jack, the ever persistent one, told him that he shouldn't be driving especially when he saw that Tony was still slightly drunk. Tony said that he'd just call a cab and then Jack made one last desperate plea with Tony, saying, "So you're going home drunk to Michelle? What's she going to think of that huh? You know she hates it when you drink. And it's late Tony. She's probably asleep by now and she has a long day of work tomorrow morning. Why don't you just crash at my place tonight and then I'll drive you home tomorrow morning. You don't work tomorrow so you can have all day to do whatever you need to do."

Tony thought about this for a minute and realized Jack was yet again right. Michelle was probably fast asleep by now and would undoubtedly be angry if she was awoken by a drunk Tony. She did hate it when he drank. And an angry Michelle was someone he didn't want to face. Especially when Tony already felt guilty already for having kissed Kara.

Much to Jack's relief, Tony gave in to his offer. But he told Jack that he would leave a message on the answering machine for Michelle so that she wouldn't worry. Tony had secretly hoped that Michelle would pick up the phone and answer, but when he heard the answering machine click on, his ears were filled with her beautiful voice,

"Hey, it's Michelle and Tony! Tony, stop it! Anyways, we're not here at the moment but if you could leave a message, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!"

Throughout the course of the message, Michelle giggled like a young school girl. Tony thought back and remembered that day. It had been a few days after they got married. They decided to put both of their names on the answering machine message and while Michelle was recording the message for the 99th time, Tony had gone up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and started placing sweet kisses on the back of her neck.

She had squirmed with delight and giggles overtook her as she tried to finish the message. When they played it back, Michelle thought it was ridiculous and completely unprofessional. She had immediately set about to record another one. Luckily, Tony had gotten there first and insisted that they keep that one. That way, every time he couldn't reach her, he'd still be able to hear her cute voice and her adorable laughter. That way he'd always be reminded of how great things were between the two of them.

Michelle had been so smitten with his reason that she gave in. So that had become their answering machine message. Michelle's girlfriends laughed at how cute they were while Tony's guy friends prodded him for being a whipped man. Tony had insisted that he wasn't whipped and that he was simply in love.

Jack couldn't help but notice that while he called Michelle, Tony had a little smile etched onto his face for the duration of the time and when the machine finally beeped, Tony said,

"Hey Chelle. It's me. Listen, I'm going home with Jack tonight cause well he wanted to talk about…um…Kate. You know. Guy stuff. Anyways, I just wanted to call to let you know not to worry about me and stuff. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye Chelle. I love you."

As Tony hung up and got into Jack's car, he didn't know that Michelle had indeed been awake. And she had heard every word of his message while tears ran down her face. After hearing it, she placed a small envelope by the answering machine with Tony's name on it. And with one last look at the apartment that held so many memories for the two of them, Michelle left. Left to start her new life. Away from LA, and away from Tony.

Tony woke up the next morning with a slight hangover. His head was pounding but none of that mattered. All he wanted to do was go home and maybe catch Michelle before she headed off to work. He just wanted to make sure that she knew that he loved her more than anything in the world. He couldn't help but smile as he pulled out a picture of them together from his wallet. His arms were wrapped around her waist and he was kissing the side of her face as she laughed.

It was a perfect picture. A perfect picture of a perfect woman. Tony was angry at himself for not appreciating the fact that he had a woman as wonderful as Michelle. He told himself that he would buy her roses today. Big pink ones. Her favorite. As Jack entered the room, Tony told him that he was ready to go home. Jack obliged and they made their way towards his Escalade. When Tony asked if they could stop at a flower shop on the way there, Jack frowned and grumbled,

"What kind of flower shop is open at 6 in the morning?"

Tony thought about this and told him that there was this one place he knew that was open pretty much 24 hours of the day. They went and picked up two dozen long stemmed roses. Sure it cost him a small fortune but it was worth it. Michelle was worth it and so much more.

As soon as they arrived, Tony practically ran out of the car in eagerness to see Michelle. Upon reaching the door, he grabbed his keys and shoved them into the door. In all of his excitement, it took him a few moments to realize that he was trying to shove his car keys into the slot instead of the house keys. After much more struggle than necessary, Tony finally got in.

Upon entering, he quietly stepped inside, not wanting to wake her up if she still happened to be asleep. And plus, he wanted to surprise Michelle if it was possible. He quietly snuck towards the bedroom, expecting to find her lying on the bed. He smiled as he opened the door of their bedroom…

…But as he opened the door he couldn't find Michelle anywhere.

Instead, it almost seemed as if no one had been sleeping there last night at all.

The bed was neatly made up.

The curtains weren't even drawn.

Disheartened at the fact that he couldn't locate Michelle in their bedroom, Tony then thought to himself, 'maybe she's in the bathroom.' He then proceeded to go towards their main bathroom and when he found it empty, he was starting to get concerned.

What concerned him was that all of Michelle's stuff that normally cluttered the sink was gone. And upon entering their bedroom, he noticed that the majority of her clothes were gone too. He looked at the pictures that normally sat on the dresser and instead saw them all pulled downwards so that the pictures were no longer visible.

Her toothbrush, her comb, her clothes, everything. Everything was gone.

He started to grow into a slow panic as he ran out into the living room where he was met by Jack.

He nervously sputtered, "Jack! Michelle's not here! I can't find her and all of her stuff is gone! Maybe she was kidnapped! Christ, Jack what the hell am I going to do? I gotta call the cops. Shit. Oh shit. JACK! I shouldn't have stayed with you last night! Damnit!"

Jack quickly realized that Michelle had been serious when she said she was going to leave LA for good. Jack had thought that she had meant it only in jest. But as he saw Tony's frantic face desperately trying to figure out what to do, he couldn't help but be saddened.

Jack saw how desperate Tony was becoming as Tony asked him for 911's number in haste.

But instead of telling Tony that Michelle had left him, he told Tony,

"Tony! Calm down! Think about it logically. If she was kidnapped do you think her kidnapper would have allowed her to take everything she had with her?"

Tony looked over at Jack, and realized his foolishness. However, he questioned,

"Then where is she Jack? Why would she pack up everything she has if she was just going for a girls' night out? Kate. Maybe Kate knows where she is. I have to call Kate."

Jack sighed as he knew that Kate wouldn't have the answers. No one had the answer to Michelle's disappearance except him. And Jack knew that he couldn't tell Tony. He had made a promise to Michelle. A promise that he had no intention of breaking.

As Tony frantically called Kate, Jack paced around the room. Noticing too that all of the pictures of Michelle and Tony had been placed flat down as if someone didn't want the pictures to be seen. As Jack reentered the room, he saw Tony throw his phone down in frustration after Kate told him that she hadn't spoken to Michelle in days and had no idea where she was.

By now, Tony was near hysterical. Where was she? Why would she take all of her stuff and leave? Was she okay? Oh God. What happens if she's not okay? I can't live without her. And as he paced from side to side, he noticed a letter by the answering machine with his name on it.

"Jack!" Tony called. "It's a letter from Michelle! It's her handwriting!"

Tony's eyes seemed to dance with happiness as he looked down at the only piece of Michelle he had left. He carefully opened the letter and his eyes moved quickly across the words. And as he read the letter, the smile that plastered his face earlier slowly diminished. The light in his eyes slowly faded as he read each painful word of Michelle's letter.

_Tony, I can't live like this anymore. When you got out of prison, I thought that we could work this out. That we could be the way we were, but I was foolish. I was wrong to think that things would ever be the way they were. You and I are not the same people we were when we said our vows. You are not the man I fell in love with, in fact, I do not believe I love you anymore. In fact, I know. I don't love you anymore Tony. I know that you will not understand my reasons, but please, just respect them. Do not try and contact me, I have left no number, no address, nothing for you. I just want to get away, Tony and I hope that you can allow me to do that. Try and forget me. I want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted. For you to be happy. I do not love you anymore. And please, forget me; I was only a momentary interest for you. An infatuation, nothing more. I'm sorry I couldn't be the woman you needed. _

_Michelle Dessler_.

Jack observed Tony as he read the letter, and what he saw made him sick to his stomach. He saw the same devastated look that Michelle had on her face when she told him she was leaving. It was the same angst, the same pain.

Tony stared down at the letter. And he read it over, and each time, the words pierced his heart like a million tiny knives. He analyzed it to make sure that it was her handwriting. And upon further inspection, he found what he believed to be wet blotches of paper where her tears must have flown while writing this.

Something else bugged Tony about the letter. She signed Michelle Dessler. She never signed Michelle Dessler to him. She had always signed her little notes to him as "Love Michelle XOXOXO."

With every passing moment, he felt his stomach clench and his heart break. She couldn't mean this. Surely not. This wasn't his Michelle. No. This was some cruel joke. It couldn't be Michelle. She loved him. He was positive. She would never say that she no longer loved him.

Replacing his angst was anger. He began to get angry and wondered what the hell she meant by not contacting her. Of course he would contact her! He wanted answers damn it! He wasn't just about to let her run out of his life without answering his questions!

By now he had thrown the letter at Jack and told him to read it. After Jack quickly read the contents of the letter, he stared at Tony and said,

"Come on, Tony. We need to get you somewhere else so you can calm down a bit."

Jack began to lead Tony out of his house, but Tony resisted. He firmly stood his ground and shook his head.

"No. I won't take this for an answer. I won't rest until I know what the hell is going on with Michelle. Why the hell did she leave me, Jack? What did I do to her that was so horrible? She told me to get a job. I got a freaking job. Sure it's not as glamorous as my old job, but hell, I GAVE UP MY LIFE FOR HER, JACK! Why the hell would she leave me! Damn it, I want an answer!"

Tony strode purposefully towards the door as Jack jogged up to catch up and said to him,

"Yeah, then what are you going to do huh Tony? Are you going to run after someone who obviously doesn't want to be found? She's avoiding you Tony, and while I have no idea why I don't understand how running after her will help. Michelle's running from you Tony. Don't you get it?"

Up until that point, Tony had managed to avoid eye contact with Jack because he knew that if Jack looked at his eyes, he would see the tears that threatened to fall any moment now. But he slowly looked up at Jack and tentatively questioned,

"Do you think she means it, Jack? Do you think she doesn't love me anymore?"

Jack searched for an answer. He knew that if he told Tony that there was yet hope for him and Michelle, Tony would go after her. But if he told Tony that there was nothing left for him and Michelle, that would destroy him. Tony had given up everything and though Jack would never question Tony's love for Michelle, he questioned Michelle's love for Tony. When she had told him that she was leaving Tony she hadn't faltered. She had stood strong in her proclamation.

Jack knew that if Tony knew of this his already fragile heart would be shattered to the extent where it might never heal. But Jack knew that it would be wrong of him to give Tony false hope. Why tell him to run after someone who so desperately wanted to avoid him? And what happened if he found Michelle? She would just say the same thing the letter said. What good could that possibly do for Tony?

Tony stared at Jack desperately awaiting an answer. But when he saw Jack pause, he took this as a sign that there was indeed no hope left for him and Michelle.

After much thinking, Jack finally replied,

"Michelle's gone Tony. She's obviously moved on. Now, it's your turn."

Tony after hearing Jack's verdict, marched out of the house.

Jack called after him, saying,

"Tony! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Tony tersely replied, "I want to be alone."

And Jack could do nothing more but stare at the back of a man so broken that it devastated him. Tony walked towards his truck and sped down the highway.

He had no idea where the hell he was going. He didn't care. All he wanted to do was to get as far away from this place as he could. It held too many memories. Too many memories of him and Michelle. Too many memories of **_her_**.

And as he drove, the rain began to pour on as did his tears. He hadn't cried since his wedding and was certainly not a crier. He drove faster and faster deeper into the desert. He didn't care that he had no direction. He couldn't stand the silence so he hastily put on the radio. And low and behold, the song that came on, none other than a good old break-up song, and as the song went on, Tony couldn't help but think how much the lyrics related to his situation.

Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)  
Phil Collins Mariah Carey

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace  
When I stand here taking every breath with you, oh  
You're the only one who really knew me at all

How can you just walk away from me, when all I can do is watch you leave  
Cause we've shared the laughter and the pain, and even shared the tears  
You're the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, cause there's just an empty space  
And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face  
Take a look at me now, cause there's just an empty space  
And you coming back to me is against all odds and that's what I've got to face

I wish I could just make you turn around, turn around and see me cry  
There's so much I need to say to you, so many reasons why  
You're the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, cause there's just an empty space  
And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face  
Take a look at me now, cause there's just an empty space  
But to wait for you, well that's all I can do and that's what I've got to face  
Take a good look at me now, cause I'll still be standing here  
And you coming back to me is against all odds  
That's the chance I've got to take, oh, oh

Just take a look at me now

Funny, how he could withstand so much pain and suffering at CTU. But with one simple letter, Michelle had managed to destroy him. She destroyed his hopes of having children with her, growing old with her, hell, maybe even grandchildren. Funny how a few little words when put together could bring so much pain to a man like him.

He drove with anger, with sorrow, with self doubt, but no matter his emotion, the thought that plagued his mind was that of Michelle. Finally, he noticed that he was near exhaustion from crying his heart out; he started his way back home. He had no where else to go. No one to go home to.

As the day wore on, Tony became more and more devastated. What did he do? What did he do to make Michelle leave him? Maybe he wasn't good enough for her. Maybe he should have told her more often how much he loved her. Maybe…he didn't deserve her.

From that day on, Tony was never the same person again. For starters, he quit his job at the bar. Well, more like he got fired. Not showing up for a whole week without a reason tends to do that. But he didn't care. Tony didn't care about anything.

In fact, contrary to many people's belief that he would turn to alcohol to drown his sorrows in, Tony gave up alcohol cold turkey. Within weeks, Jack had also noticed that Tony had lost a considerable amount of weight. The bags underneath his eyes also seemed to grow daily as he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

Actually, the last part was true. Tony hadn't had more than three hours of sleep in the past month. It had been one month since that fateful day. He refused to sleep in the bedroom, preferring the couch. The couch didn't have as many memories as their bedroom. All of the pictures that once graced his living room were stashed away into the bedroom. All of his past memories of **_her_** were hidden from view.

Not that it made it any easier. He still thought of her constantly. She plagued his dreams. That was why he was afraid of falling asleep. Because every time he closed his eyes, there she would be. Smiling at him, laughing. And these images terrorized him.

But if there was an upside, it was the fact that Jack had somehow managed to get Tony's old job at CTU back for him. They had desperately needed a programmer and well, with Jack being in charge of field operations, he had more than a little influence on Driscoll. She had finally relented to Jack's persistence that she bring Tony back after viewing his files and taking note that he had indeed been one of the best.

However, Driscoll was cautious in bringing back a man tagged "traitor" by many and told Jack that if anything at all happened, Jack would be responsible. Jack happily took the challenge and told Tony of the good news.

Tony on the other hand, couldn't care more. But at the same time, work meant getting away from home and anything that involved leaving the house was a plus in Tony's mind. So instead of grieving, Tony immersed himself in work. Rising as early as 5:30 in the morning to go to work and not coming home until it was well past midnight.

He submerged himself with work and even his co-workers noticed this. Tony hardly took breaks throughout the course of his day. This worried many of his co-workers especially Jack and Chloe. Chloe worked in close vicinity with Tony and noticed how he hardly seemed to even eat. Jack of course noticed the frazzled Tony. How Tony wouldn't speak more than a few words to anyone. And even when they invited him out for a couple of drinks after work, he would decline, staying at the office until late into the evening.

Tony was great during a crisis, as he got all of the necessary information quicker than anyone else could have imagined. But it was after working hours that Jack was most worried about. He knew that Tony had managed to fool the majority of his co-workers at CTU. In fact, most of them believed that Tony had actually taken his split from Michelle quite well. But Jack knew Tony. He knew that Tony was hiding from the rest of the world. Hiding in fear that he would be hurt yet again.

Unbeknownst to Tony, Michelle was also suffering. She cried endlessly. For nights unending she cried her eyes out. Even small stupid things would remind her of Tony. She would be watching a commercial on TV and all of a sudden for no reason she would start crying again. She couldn't go anywhere without seeing his face. He haunted her dreams. With his smile, oh his smile. That smile that he had for her alone. But what was she thinking? He obviously had that same smile for another girl or else he wouldn't have kissed that woman.

Michelle shuddered at the very thought of the other girl. The woman who broke her heart, her dreams of a life with Tony. And then she thought back on Tony's eyes. Those beautiful big doe brown eyes. They were so soft and loving. Every time she looked into them, she felt like she could just melt. And as she thought about him, the tears kept flowing.

Michelle was more than positive that she had bought out Costco's entire stock of Kleenex in the past few days. She had been using them endlessly. She too could not fall asleep at night. But she couldn't fall asleep because she couldn't help but wonder, does he care? How was she to know whether or not Tony wasn't already sleeping with the other girl?

For all she knew, he could have been having an affair behind her back all that time. She doubted he even cared. He was probably already screwing her. Hell, he probably forgot all about Michelle. Plain old Michelle. She manipulated her mind to believe that she had only been a momentary infatuation for Tony. That the moment he found someone younger, more gorgeous than her that he would leave her.

She tried to convince herself that it was his fault so that she wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving him. After all, why should she feel guilty? She wasn't the one that was making out with someone else. She had been faithful. She had even waited for him all those long months while he had been stuck in prison! And this is how he repaid her. By cheating on her.

How typical was this. Just like all the other men in her life, Tony didn't care. All he wanted was a fuck. And as these thoughts entered her mind, she felt her heart break, rendered to the point where there was almost no hope left for it to ever be healed. She didn't want to believe those lies.

She wanted to believe that Tony hadn't kissed that other woman. But she had seen them with her own eyes. God, why did she have to be so beautiful? She was blonde, stunning to say the least, and she had a body to die for. She was everything Michelle wasn't.

Self doubt grappled Michelle. She knew she wasn't the prettiest girl in the world. Heck, at first, she was surprised Tony had even been attracted to her. She was never the girl who got the good-looking guys at school. She always got the cocky jerks that just wanted to get laid.

Michelle kept thinking to herself, 'I'm plain. I'm not extraordinarily beautiful or unique. I have brown hair, brown eyes, plain. So plain that no man can stand to be with me for a prolonged period of time.'

And then there was a knock on the door. Through her tears, Michelle couldn't even muster up enough energy to tell the person to enter. But she didn't need to because within moments, her best friend from high school, Megan, entered.

While Michelle had been devastated after leaving Tony, she knew that she couldn't stay in Los Angeles. Tony had too many contacts and it wouldn't be long before he found her. So instead, she chose to leave California completely. She flew out to Detroit where she remembered Megan lived.

Megan had been nothing but hospitable since Michelle had arrived unannounced. Megan had welcomed her with open arms, telling her that she could put her up for as long as she needed to get back on her feet. And of course, Megan had also been there when Michelle needed a shoulder to cry on, not to mention a couple of tubs of Ben and Jerry.

Megan had reassured her that there wasn't anything wrong with Michelle. That it had all been Tony's fault. That Tony didn't deserve someone as great as Michelle. But even as Michelle listened to Megan's words, she couldn't help but wonder. Is he feeling this? Is he feeling the same pain I'm going through? Or has he already moved on?

Megan noticed Michelle deep in thought, and comforted the already flustered Michelle. She told her that everything would be okay and that everything would work out eventually. And for a moment, Michelle wanted to believe her.

A/n: I finally know where I'm going with this story! So yay! But please do review! It not only shows me that people actually want me to continue this story, but all of your advice is really, really appreciated! Thanks again!


	4. The Memories

A/n: Thank you to all of the people who have so kindly decided to review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well! (And just an advance warning, but I'm going to have to alter some of the time lines of things to fit my story.) Oh, and to those of you wondering how long the story's going to be. I never know. And if I did, I'm not sure I would disclose that. After all, isn't it better being a surprise?

**Chapter 4 – The Memories**

**February 2005**

A year and a half later that is where they both stood. Staring at each other in disbelief. Their emotions warring with one another. Neither wanting to look away. But as soon as that moment started, it was broken. Secretary Heller felt the awkwardness between the two and asked Tony if he could brief everyone on the present situation at hand.

Tony snapped out of it and immediately noticed how cold Michelle had gotten. The light that once illuminated her beautiful eyes was no where to be found. Replaced were cold, hollow orbs. And brown. When did Michelle start wearing brown? She never used to wear brown before. And more importantly, why the hell was she back at CTU?

**October 2003**

Tony had remembered that three weeks after Michelle left him, there was a knock at his door. He leapt up, excited at the prospect that somehow by some miracle Michelle had come back to him. He leapt down the stairs and charged towards the door, expecting to welcome Michelle home with loving arms. And when he opened the doors, he nearly rushed into the arms of a large burly man.

The man claimed to be Michelle's lawyer. Tony was most disappointed that Michelle wasn't on the other side of the door so that he might have had the chance to even talk to her. But what happened next left him to become bitterer than ever before. The lawyer curtly handed him divorce papers saying that Michelle would contest for nothing in order to make the process go as quickly as possible.

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought that Michelle had just gone off for a little bit to get her bearings and that she would return to him. But now, she was asking for a divorce. And she wasn't contesting anything in order to make things go quicker? So she didn't even want to see him. Tony just leaned against the wall for a moment, trying to grasp his head around this new development.

He couldn't believe it. Michelle was asking to be freed from him. He never in a million years thought that this would happen. He gave up everything for her and this is how she repaid him? By divorcing him? Why would she do something like this? Why would she leave him? What could have changed her to make her break his heart? Unless…

She fell in love with another man. Tony slowly slid to the floor and covered his face with his hands as he came to the realization that Michelle must have fallen in love with another man. When did this happen? Did it happen while I was in prison? Then why did she stay with me for so long? Pity. She pitied me. That's why.

And as he began to think about it, everything made sense. Michelle had fallen in love with some random guy off the street while Tony had been in prison. While he had been in prison because he saved **her** life. And this was how she repaid him. How grand.

The more he thought about this, the more angry he became. He stared hard at the divorce papers and after much reflection, he came to the conclusion, if Michelle wants to divorce me, fine. She can have her divorce. I don't care anymore. She obviously doesn't care. Why should I care for someone who doesn't feel the same way? He harshly signed the papers and the very next day, he returned them to her lawyer.

She was gone to him. He would no longer speak of her name. No longer think of her. He would now move towards erasing from her from his life. Her pictures, the things she bought for him, the memories. Everything. After all, it had only taken her a matter of weeks before she had gotten over him.

Three days after Tony signed the divorce papers, Michelle received a call from her lawyer,

"Hello, Michelle, this is Lon calling from Los Angeles. Anyways, I just wanted you to know that Mr. Tony Almeida has signed the divorce papers. He returned them quite promptly, which should appease your anxiety. They will be fed-exed to you within two days."

Michelle listened as Lon spoke and his words kept resonating in her mind, "he returned them quite promptly." So he didn't love her anymore. She sighed in disappointment and hurt. He didn't love her at all. He had already moved on. If he still cared for her, he would have called and demanded an explanation as to why she was getting a divorce from him.

But instead, he just agreed to the terms. Probably because that way he could be rid of her and move on with his younger lover. Damn him! Damn him for making me cry again! Damn him for making me believe that he was actually in love with me! How could you be so stupid, Michelle!

Tony doesn't love me anymore. He doesn't care. And as these thoughts replayed in her mind, a wave of anguish swept her. Soon, she was bawling her eyes out, unable to control her grief of losing Tony.

After two days of uncontrollable crying, Michelle finally came to a conclusion. Tony had obviously moved on, so now it was her turn. After all, she was the one who asked for the divorce. And he had obviously thought it was the best thing for them to do. To be rid of each other forever. She would stand strong before the prying eyes of the world. After all, she wasn't just doing this for herself anymore. She needed to get her life back together in Detroit. Her new life without Tony.

**February 2005**

As the day progressed, Tony kept stealing looks at Michelle. He noticed that she didn't seem to be at all affected by the fact that they weren't together anymore. He learned later from Chloe that Michelle had been promoted to Director of CTU in another city. A city that Michelle had refused to name, but because of the large nuclear threat to LA, Secretary Heller had flown her in especially for this case. He had heard great things about her and he wanted her to be in charge of CTU during a time of crisis.

Tony however remembered how unfazed Michelle appeared to be and how cold she was towards him. So instead of letting his mind settle on Michelle, he dove into his work. Refusing to let her distract him.

As Michelle settled into her temporary office, she couldn't help but think of how it used to be Tony's old office. Every so often, she would look at him. And what she saw saddened her. He was a different man. He no longer carried himself with the same confidence. But in her heart, little heartstrings tugged at her heart as she tried to convince herself that he was still the same Tony. The Tony she had given her life to, the Tony that showed her what love was like, but also the Tony that had broken her heart.

Even hearing his voice again brought chills through her body. But she couldn't help but wonder if he was with that skank she had caught him kissing at the bar. God, why am I thinking about this? I shouldn't be thinking of Tony during a time of crisis. Actually, I shouldn't be thinking of Tony period. After all, I've moved on…

As the day wore on, everyone was starting to get stressed out about Marwan's major plan of attack. The clues were coming in and they were closing in on Marwan, but they had no assurance that this wasn't just a ploy by Marwan to divert them away from the real attack. Jack had been out on the field all day and he was exhausted, but being Jack, he refused to give in to exhaustion. He kept soldering on.

Unfortunately for Jack, he had a falling out with Kate recently and they were both taking some much needed time off from each other. Instead, Jack had been tentatively seeing Audrey Heller. But everyone at CTU knew the toll Jack and Audrey's relationship had taken on them both.

Neither were ready for a new relationship. Especially when they were both so clearly in love with their previous partners. Jack knew that Audrey still felt deeply for Paul and likewise, Audrey understood that Jack still loved Kate very much. It would only be a matter of time before the two parted, but for the time being, they were both just enjoying each other's companies without any strings attached.

At 12:00am, Jack called Tony, requesting for him to make an intensive search on the name "Mitch Anderson." Tony immediately set about doing so, only to find that his security entrance had been denied. He asked Chloe and Edgar if they knew what the security log-on code as, but both were swamped with other duties and didn't have the time to look up the security code.

Edgar, clearly unaware of Tony's past with Michelle told him,

"Go up and see Michelle. She has clearance for all of the codes. She'll be able to tell you quicker than Chloe or myself. And plus, we're up to our necks with work anyways."

Tony then proceeded to walk around all of CTU practically begging people if they knew the entrance codes. Unfortunately, not one single person seemed to know. After all, it was highly classified information and it wasn't like all of the passwords were just written on some massive board for everyone to see.

Defeated, Tony had no choice but to go up to Michelle's office, his old office, to ask Michelle for the codes. He had dreaded this part. He had managed to avoid communicating with Michelle for the majority of the day and he had liked it that way. That way, he could still maintain his professionalism without having his heart ripped into a million pieces.

It still hurt to look at her. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he knew. He knew that every time he even so much as glanced up at her, his heart would break. All of that healing he had forced himself to go through was rendered useless by the simple appearance of Michelle. All of the progress he had made by "getting over her" was gone out the window. He was back to square one.

And square one included him being furious with Michelle for leaving him without even so much a phone call. He looked around CTU and vowed that after today, he would get away. He couldn't work at CTU anymore. How could he when there were so many memories of him and Michelle together? He needed to move. He was going to move away from LA. Get a job that had absolutely nothing to do with CTU. He was planning all of this in his mind as he walked up those stairs, and he didn't even notice who just so happened to be coming down…

Michelle needed coffee. But more importantly, she needed to just have Tony out of her life. She thought that she had gotten rid of him for good when she divorced him and now he was back here at CTU. She rapidly typed on her computer, trying to pick up on any miscellaneous leads that might lead them to clues about Marwan's activities.

But as she felt her eyes droop and looked up at the words she had managed to type, she knew she needed coffee. So she began to make her way down to the dining area. She had a few papers with her so that she could catch up on the new leads that CTU had picked up on. So distracted was she by these new leads that she didn't notice who was coming up the stairs…

Before they both knew it, they had almost run into each other. She looked up momentarily from her papers, while he looked up momentarily from his thoughts. And their eyes met. Unwittingly.

There was a momentary lapse of time as the two stared at each other. Their eyes locked in a trance.

For a moment, he didn't see the woman who had shattered his heart and for a moment, she didn't see the man who had left her heart to die.

Instead, he saw her beauty, her intelligence, her strength.

And she saw his strength, his knowledge and his intensity.

Their eyes warred with one another, almost as if daring the other to look away.

For a moment, they each saw the person they had fallen deeply, madly and truly in love with.

It was as if there was no one else at CTU.

They were lost in their own worlds.

For the first time in many months, their hearts and their souls both felt complete.

Their emotions warred with each other. Their passion, their anger, their anguish evident in both their eyes and on their faces.

Michelle was the first to recover. She whipped her eyes away. Angry at herself that she had let herself lose control in front of him. She concealed all of her emotions with a fake smile and asked,

"Tony. What are you doing here?"

Tony looked at her as she spoke his name. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in months. To hear his name uttered through those lips. Her voice brought back painful memories of their times together and he refused to look into her eyes. They had always captivated him and he knew that he would not be able to control himself much longer if he looked into her soft, beautiful, passionate eyes.

He looked away, and instead of answering he just sighed. By now, much of CTU had noticed the encounter between Tony and Michelle and were starting to stare. Michelle noticed this and politely said,

"Would you like to discuss these matters inside of my office with me instead?"

Tony looked up in disbelief and then he looked around and noticed how many of his co-workers were eagerly looking up at the two of them expecting them to either passionately kiss or to start shouting obscenities at one another. Most bets had been on the screaming obscenities bit. Tony acknowledged that her office might be a better place to have his confrontation with Michelle. Best to avoid the prying eyes of his co-workers anyways.

As Michelle walked back up towards her office, Tony followed. And as he followed, he couldn't help but notice that no matter how different she might have appeared, her butt was still as cute as ever. He couldn't help but grin a little but then he quickly chided himself for having these thoughts.

When Tony arrived in his old office, Michelle immediately sat down, offering him a seat. Instead, Tony opted to stand, saying that his request would be brief. He simply needed to brief her about what was going on with Jack and he just needed to get a password for clearance from her.

Michelle took note of how Tony refused to meet her eyes. All throughout his briefing, he would stare at the wall, the chair, the lights. Anything but her. Unless he had suddenly come up with a sudden fascination with the…walls. After a while, he started to move towards the large glass windows and she couldn't help but follow him. He began to talk in a more hushed tone about the happenings of that day.

Michelle stared at his back and wondered, 'What's he doing now? Does he have someone else? Has he moved on?'

**"6,8,12" by Brian McKnight**

Ooh, ooh  
Do you ever think about me?  
Do you ever cry yourself to sleep?  
In the middle of the night when you're awake,  
Are you calling out for me?  
Do you ever reminisce?  
I can't believe I'm acting like this  
I know it's crazy  
How I still can feel your kiss

Though she claimed that she no longer had feelings for him, she still cared deeply about him. Everyone who knew Michelle well knew of this. Her parents had been devastated when she had told them that she was getting a divorce from Tony. And her father had been furious that she would leave him at a time like that. Her father knew that she needed Tony and he just couldn't understand why they couldn't just talk and work it out.

Tony, although he had his back to her, he could feel Michelle approach. He began to get uncomfortable and when he looked back he saw that she was playing with what appeared to be a ring on her left hand.

_1_ - It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours  
Since you went away  
I miss you so much and I don't know what to say  
I should be over you  
I should know better but it's just not the case  
It's been six months, eight days, twelve hours  
Since you went away

For a moment, his heart soared. Was it his ring? Maybe she still loves me. Maybe there's hope for the two of us. But then upon looking at the ring, he noticed that it wasn't his ring. This ring was gold, with a massive glittering rock. Much bigger than the one he offered her.

Michelle noticed how his eyes dropped to her left hand and immediately tried to cover it up. She put her right hand over her left and walked away, scolding herself for not being more careful.

Tony stared desperately at the wall, trying urgently to calm himself and ease the immense pain he felt in his heart. She had moved on. She's engaged. To someone else. Probably the man she left me for. He looked at her, trying to see if she would give him an answer. But instead, she looked away, finding the ground far more captivating.

His heart sank even further. She won't even look at me. She won't even give me that. Cautiously, he ventured,

"So, who is he?"

Michelle knew that now there would be hiding from it. She politely demurred, "Brett Connors."

As soon as she said that name, Tony felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He felt the wind completely knocked out of him. Brett Connors? Brett Connors as in his boss from Firefly? His son-of-a-bitch boss who had no respect for women? How could a girl like Michelle end up with a guy like Brett?

Michelle was having an affair with that bastard behind my back? And now she's engaged to him? She's too good for a jerk like him! He doesn't deserve her! What the hell is she doing with him?

Michelle carefully watched Tony as she saw the many emotions go through his face. She knew that Brett had been Tony's boss at Firefly. In fact, she wouldn't have recognized him had she not remembered that night when she came home and Brett was there with Tony watching the game.

She had met him in Detroit. Apparently, he was good friends with Megan's boyfriend and well, frankly, when he was cleaned up he wasn't too shabby-looking. And although he had initially freaked her out by staring her up and down, she had gotten to know him, and thus far he had seemed like a good guy. Actually, he had seemed like a really good guy.

He was nice to her, he was charming and he was great with people. Her friends seemed to like him a lot too. He actually tried to make conversation with his friends, unlike Tony, who had just stood there most of the time being his usual brooding self.

Another reason why Michelle had been drawn to Brett was that he was the opposite of Tony. For starters, he as blonde and had green eyes. Megan had warned him that Brett was a perennial playboy, but she had disregarded her warnings, and instead went for it with Brett. She just wanted a reason to forget Tony and Brett was the perfect excuse.

He was everything Tony wasn't. Brett was more open to the world, he brought such an energy with him, a lightness. Brett was like the day, while Tony much more resembled the night. Tony was more closed, refusing to let anyone read into him, Tony was mysterious. She couldn't help but contrast the two and Megan knew of this.

Megan knew that Michelle just wanted to forget Tony, and well, conveniently, along came Brett. Although Brett was Megan's boyfriend's best friend, Megan just didn't trust the guy. There was just something about him that made her want to keep Michelle away. But she couldn't help Michelle, especially not when she said yes to his marriage proposal.

Megan was beyond shocked that Michelle had actually said yes. She knew her friend was still in love with Tony, but for her to say yes to another man's proposal. That was just beyond her. And all the while, there was just something about Brett that made Megan uneasy…

The two of them stared at opposite walls in silence. Michelle then carefully looked to see Tony. To see his reaction. Although he was broken, Tony masked it well. Offering no signs of hurt or disappointment that Michelle was engaged. Instead, he offered up a fake smile, politely saying, "Congratulations. I wish you both well."

Upon hearing this, what little hope Michelle had of her and Tony reuniting was shattered. He didn't care. Tony didn't care that she was engaged. He didn't care that she was with someone else. He didn't care about her.

Trying her very best to remain professional about their whole encounter, Michelle offered a small smile and a thank you to Tony. As Tony made a move to leave, Michelle felt her heart race. No, she couldn't let him leave again. She still wanted to talk to him. She wanted to see if there was any hope at all that the two of them might be reunited.

Do you ever ask about me?  
Do your friends still tell you what to do?  
Every time the phone rings,  
Do you wish it was me calling you?  
Do you still feel the same?  
Or has time put out the flame?  
I miss you  
Is everything okay?

_Repeat 1_

Tony knew that his time was up. He had gotten all of the necessary codes and he was in no mood to update Michelle on new developments. After all, that would mean spending more time with her and well, she was engaged. Her fiancé probably wouldn't appreciate her spending that much time with her ex-husband. As Tony turned to leave, he heard her say, "Wait!"

His head whipped around and he saw her only a foot away from his face. She stared up into his eyes, pushing away the anguish that had engulfed her. She gazed at him imploringly, hoping with all of her heart that he would just take her into his strong embrace again. That he would wrap his strong arms around her, that he would kiss her and that he would tell her that he still loved her. That he had always loved her and that she would always be the only one for him.

He refused to let himself get caught up in his emotions, so he asked, "Michelle? Is there something I can do for you?"

Michelle's eyes darkened a few shades. The little glimpse of light he had seen earlier disappeared, as once more the harshness returned. Instead of answering him directly, she simply said, "Not really. I was just wondering how long you were going to be here at CTU? I know you work here and everything, but do you plan to stay?"

Tony stared at disbelief in Michelle. How could she be so rude? Immediately after asking himself this question, he mentally kicked himself for being so dense. Of course, because she didn't love me anymore. Well, that didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. She did get herself engaged to someone else. Was she really that eager to see him leave? He swore to himself that after today was over, he would immediately leave LA. He needed a change of pace. But most importantly, he needed to get away from Michelle.

How could he stay and watch her get married? How could he see some other man kiss his ex-wife? His ex-wife that he was still very much in love with, much less. He needed to move on. She had obviously moved on quite quickly. And who knew how long Michelle was going to be working at CTU. She couldn't even stand the sight of him. Tony had come to the conclusion that he would leave LA immediately. Maybe go back to Chicago. After all, he missed his Cubs. Watching them on TV just wasn't the same as going to Wrigley Field.

He then looked at Michelle and mustered, "Don't worry, I won't be here too much longer. I have other things to attend to. Anyways, I best be getting back to work or else Division will be up my ass again. I wish you and Brett the best."

Tony's heart screamed at the lie that his lips had just uttered. But disregarding his heart's desire to simply wrap his arms around her tiny waist and just hold her close to him, he instead went back downstairs to work.

Michelle stared at his back as he left. She refused to run after him again. She would never run after him again. He obviously didn't care. After all, after she left him, he made no motion to contact her. To find her. To demand an answer as to why she left. Instead, he just simply gave up on her. He didn't care about her anymore. He probably only cared about his platinum blonde skank of a girlfriend.

Her heart heavy with sorrow, she resigned herself to work once more. Forgetting that she was supposed to go downstairs and grab a coffee, she instead sat at down at her desk. And behind the veils of darkness, the tears flew once more.

It's hard enough just passing the time  
When I can't seem to get you off my mind  
And where is the good in goodbye?  
Tell me why, tell me why

_Repeat 1_

Sing it for me  
Ooh, ooh

Again, it be very much appreciated if you could all just push that tiny button on the bottom left and review! And I promise, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update!


	5. The Encounter

A/n: Thank you to all of the people who have so kindly decided to review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well! (And just an advance warning, but I'm going to have to alter some of the time lines of things to fit my story.)

**Chapter 5 – The Encounter**

As the day progressed, Michelle couldn't help but look down in a certain direction at a certain man. Even though they weren't even in the same room, she could feel his distinctive presence. She saw earlier how he had managed to accurately predict what Jack was trying to do while luring the other men into a cross-fight. She also noticed how he didn't gloat in front of her; instead, he merely gave a short acknowledgement that he was right and moved right back to working.

He also looked different. He looked as if he had worked out recently, and all of the muscle weight he lost after he was released from prison, he had gained back. And she had to admit it, he looked damn good. But she quickly scolded herself. After all, I have a fiancé whom I love very much. Very much. Yes. I loved Brett. Don't I? Of course I do! What kind of a thought was that? After all I said yes to his proposal, that has to mean I love him!

Fortunately for Michelle, the day would soon come to an end with everything working out and once again, CTU had foiled another mass terrorist attempt. Everyone at CTU was exhausted, and most of her co-workers had left for the night…save one.

Tony was still there. He sat at his station, working furiously, almost as if they were still in the midst of a crisis. Michelle was tired, but she didn't want to leave. She had no idea when she would get to see him again, and even if it meant watching him from afar, she was content with doing so.

Tony knew that the workday was over, but well, frankly, he had no one to go home to. And loneliness was both his best friend and his worst enemy. There were times of the day when he just wished people would leave him alone, but at night, when he returned home to an empty apartment, he couldn't help but want some sort of companionship with someone. Anyone.

It wasn't like he didn't try to get over Michelle. He had dated. Many girls actually. It was simply the fact that he wasn't into any of them. Most of the girls he asked out were great girls. In fact, girls that he should have taken more interest in.

The dates all started out the same way. Some attractive, smart girl asked him out for dinner, and he accepted, wanting some company for the night. Dinner was pleasant. Both of them would make small talk. Previous jobs, present job, previous relationships. But every time the conversation turned towards previous relationships, Tony could help but imagine it was Michelle' eyes he was looking into.

At one point during a date, he had inadvertently called some girl Michelle, and then blushing profusely, he had apologized, trying desperately to cover up for his mistake by saying that he had asked her if she liked sea shells. Thankfully the other girl hadn't been paying much attention to Tony while he talked and didn't notice his small slip.

But today had been too much. And it wasn't due to the immense stress put on him by the thought of yet another terrorist strike against LA. No, he was used to that type of stress. After all, he had sacrificed his life for Michelle's. The stress was simply by being in the same room as Michelle.

Seeing her again had broken him. He had tried so desperately these past months to just forget her. To erase the best thing that had ever happened to him. Because it hurt. It hurt to much to remember. He had nightmares for months, nightmares that included her being threatened and him not being able to do anything. And occasionally, the worst nightmare was the one of him opening up that letter.

The letter that destroyed a man many thought to be invincible. But he showed no one of his hurt. Not even his family. His parents had thought he had completely moved on, but never forgetting to prod him about finding another girl, and preferably one that would give his parents grandchildren.

His younger sister had noted a change in her brother's demeanor, but she knew him better than to ask. She knew that if she confronted him, he would simply deny it and cover it up with some lame excuse. Instead, she tried to help by setting him up on dates with her single friends who had always thought her older brother was cute.

Tony's brothers were too busy to really notice anything about him. They all had their own families to tend to, and most of them had left LA to go back to Chicago anyways. So Tony was left alone to suffer in his pain. He had no one to talk to.

So bored was he that he had even went out and bought a cat. He knew he couldn't keep a dog because he would never have time to walk it, but a cat, they could fend for themselves. He had picked her up at the local pound. She was just a kitten then, a couple weeks old. She had been abandoned by her family and the people at the SPCA had told him that she was quite scared of humans and preferred to be alone rather than to be held.

But when Tony had picked up this tiny orange tabby, she had clung to his shirt and wouldn't let go. Even after the SPCA lady tried to bribe her some fresh milk, the cat still clung to Tony's shirt for dear life. And that's when Tony knew that he couldn't let go of this cat. He just had to take her. And take her he did. He named his little kitten, Tugger. Partly after Tigger the Tiger, but since this one kept tugging at his shirt, he felt the name Tugger was more appropriate.

And although Tugger was adequate company in the evenings, Tony missed having someone to talk to. He remembered all of the nights when him and Michelle would simply stay up all night and just talk. They would talk about everything. The weather, their family, their childhood, their future together.

Even when they were both silent, it seemed as if their hearts talked to one another. Her head in his lap and his fingers gently stroking her beautiful hair. They had sat like that for hours un-end. They would talk, they would laugh, they would be complete. Tony missed those moments. But what he missed most of all was when they played. It sounds silly to anyone else, but to him those were the best parts of his relationship with Michelle.

He remembered back to a time when he had tried to teach her how to cook. And he remembered how determined she was to cook even the simplest of meals…breakfast. She went through seven eggs that day to try and properly make a sunny-side up egg. Every time she made a mistake, her brow would furrow in frustration while Tony silently laughed to himself.

She had noticed him chuckling, and had immediately feigned hurt. Then of course, he had come to his own defense, saying he was laughing at the refrigerator and how it was so…funny looking. She had laughed at his pitiful attempt to lie. Then he had walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her small waist, and just held her close to him.

She had relaxed into his arms, wishing that the moment could last forever. She had never felt safer. More loved. More complete than when she was in his arms. He completed her in every aspect of the word. Of course, that had led to her burning her seventh egg and while she sighed at her inability to cook, Tony found it cute. Tony instead promised that she would never have to cook and that he would always be there to cook for her. And as long as she stayed with him she would never have to worry about anything other than setting the table.

As this memory played back in his mind, he couldn't help but smile. It just so happened that Michelle looked down at that very moment and saw Tony with a small smile on his face. A look she had forgotten. She hadn't seen him smile in the longest time. And for a moment, she couldn't help but smile.

Lost in his own thoughts, Tony had noticed that Michelle was still up in her office. When he looked up and saw that her light was still open, he was surprised. Shouldn't she have gone home by now? It was well past 1am. Wouldn't her fiancé be concerned about her not being home? He decided to finish off the files he had on hand and then leave for the night.

Of course, being the gentleman, Tony had hoped that Michelle would leave first. He didn't really want her to be alone in such a big office all by herself. But then again, he didn't really want to be stuck in such a large building with her…alone. Their encounter earlier that day had already proved awkward. And although Tony had hoped that there was some chance of them getting together, his hopes had been crushed when he saw another man's ring on her finger.

The best he could hope for now was a friendship. But damn it, he didn't want a friendship with Michelle. They had never been just friends. Even from their very first encounter, Tony had felt a spark go off between him and Michelle. And now, to be resigned to the role of a friend? He couldn't go through that. He couldn't be her friend knowing that he wanted so much more.

As he thought back on their meeting, he couldn't help but wonder, what if there was hope yet for us? I could have sworn I saw a certain glow in her eyes when we were talking. And she's trying to hide something from me. I know it. I saw that look in her eyes. She had always been a terrible liar. What if….What if she still cared?

But she wouldn't. Of course she wouldn't. But. What if she still did? His heart battled his brain furiously for control. His heart begged him to go and ask her, while his brain told him to stop before he made a fool of himself. As his mind said no, his heart screamed at him "Coward!" Was he doomed to become one of those men who grow old alone and always wonder, "what if?" As his heart and mind continued to battle for control, he heard a noise upstairs.

He instinctively looked up at her office, and noticed that she seemed to be glowing. Was it because she was thinking of Brett? Or was it because maybe, just maybe, she was thinking of me? Then, in a moment of invincibility, he made the decision to go upstairs and confront Michelle about them. And whether or not there was any hope left for them. Any hope at all.

He strode confidently up the stairs, knowing that at least no one could call him coward for not asking. As Michelle heard footsteps approach her, she knew that he was coming. Why was he coming? To tell her he was leaving? But she didn't want him to leave. She wanted to absorb as much of him as she possibly could. And frankly, she didn't want to be left alone in the building either.

She prepared herself to receive him. She straightened out her already straight hair, and tried to smooth over some creases that had formed in her skirt. She then tried to look as if she had been busily working so that he wouldn't know she had spent most of the past couple of hours staring at him. But still, nothing she did would prepare her for his overwhelming presence when he entered into the room.

Tony knocked on her door lightly, tentatively, politely. He walked into the room and for a while, he just stood there, staring at her. Not knowing quite what to say. He stared at her for a few seconds, and then turned around without saying anything. He proceeded to go back downstairs, as he was looking quite foolish with his mouth half open simply staring at her.

Michelle was beyond confused by this time. Tony had just walked into her office, but instead of saying anything, he just stood there. Mouth slightly agape and simply staring at her. She didn't know what to do. Should she ask him what he wanted? But as soon as she had opened her mouth to speak, he had turned moving to go downstairs again.

And as Tony walked away silently, he cursed himself for being such an idiot. How could he just walk up to her office and not saying anything? How could he just stand there looking like a complete idiot without saying anything to her at all? And as he proceeded down the stairs, his heart once again screamed, "**COWARD**!"

Well, Tony Almeida was no coward, so determined, he started to make his way up again. But a few steps before reaching Michelle's office, his brain got the better of him, and told him that he would only act like a fool in front of Michelle and embarrass himself, so again, he proceeded downstairs. This pattern continued for quite some time, and Michelle, well, Michelle was beyond perplexed. She kept seeing the top of Tony's head pop into her view, before he made his way back down, only to make his way back up momentarily.

What was he doing? Was this some sort of exercise he did nightly? Cause if it was, it was just slightly creepy. Or what if he wanted to talk? Is he deciding to talk to me? Oh God, what if he wants an answer to why I left him? I'm not ready for that talk yet. I can't talk to him about that, and with that, she began to pace around her office.

Finally, Tony had decided, he would go up to her office and confront her. So leaping up the stairs, he barged into her office looking at her with piercing eyes and he said two simple words that would echo in Michelle's mind for many days to come. Tony stormed into her office and asked, "Why him?"

Michelle, stunned by this question asked, "Excuse me?"

Tony, refusing to give up now, asked again, "Why Brett?"

Michelle by now had no intention of continuing this conversation and countered, "What do you mean 'Why Brett?'"

Tony, gaining confidence said, "Why did you choose him over me? What does he have that I don't have?"

Michelle didn't know exactly how to approach this question. And giving Tony the 'I don't know' answer wouldn't cut it. He wouldn't rest until he had gotten an answer from her. This was one part of Tony she couldn't stand. His stubbornness. But she knew that his stubbornness was also what made him great. She admired that about him. She always had and she still did. She admired how he stood up for his beliefs, for his friends, for her.

He had always been the first to come to her rescue. She remembered this one time when they had gone into a club and some random guy started getting a little too close to comfort. Michelle had this look of pure desperation in her eyes as the much taller guy towered over her almost threateningly, but then came Tony. He had told the other guy to back off and had come to Michelle's rescue. He knew that she was feeling uncomfortable and without even speaking, he had come to her aid.

As she reminisced about the past, Tony noticed that she had this far-off look in her eyes. As if she was remembering their past. Or at least he hoped it was their past together. So tentatively he asked, "Michelle? Are you going to answer my question at all?"

Michelle looked at him, he was so vulnerable. Like a small puppy dog that she just wanted to take into her arms and hold. But then she remembered. She remembered that day that ruined her life. And she couldn't help herself when tears began to form in her eyes. She desperately tried to hide them from Tony. She didn't want him to see her cry. She didn't want him to know that he still had an effect on her.

Michelle hadn't told anyone of what Tony had done. Not Megan, not her parents, no one. She was too afraid that if she told anyone, it would never leave her memory. Everyone would know about it and everyone would just constantly mention it. So she kept it to herself. She, like Tony, suffered alone. Refusing to let the world in for the fear of getting hurt once more.

Unfortunately for Michelle, Tony had already noticed the tears in her eyes and went closer to her to comfort her. He carefully treaded, "Michelle? Are you okay? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He moved towards her to envelop her in a comforting hug, but as soon as he got close, she pushed him away vehemently saying bitterly,

"Why are you here, Tony? What do you want from me?"

Tony stared at her in disbelief, did she still not know? How could she not know that he wanted her? He had always wanted her. Only her. No one else in the world even came close to being her. "You don't know what I want?"

Michelle scoffed at this slightly, "Of course I don't. It doesn't seem like I know much of anything anymore."

Tony stared at her in disbelief, wanting nothing more than to wipe away her tears, to hold her, to be near her. But he knew that she would never let him do that. She was too stubborn. Too proud. Qualities he had adored about her then but now he desperately wished that she would just give into him.

Instead of approaching her, Tony asked the question that had haunted him for the past year, "What did I do? What did I do to make you stop loving me?"

Instead of directly answering him, Michelle scoffed and said, "Funny, but I was about to ask you the same thing."

Tony stared at her in confusion, what did she mean? What was she talking about? She thought the he didn't love her anymore? How could she be so blind? Of course he still loved her! He wouldn't still be here if he still didn't feel something about her.

Tony looked at her and he asked a question she had been fearing he would ask, he simply said, "Do you love him?"

Michelle stared at him in disbelief. The audacity he had in asking her that question! Of course she loved Brett! Didn't she?

Casting her momentary doubt aside, she answered bitterly, "Of course I love him! Don't you get it Tony? I love Brett! I don't love you anymore. Hell, I don't even know who are you are anymore. And what business is it of yours who I'm with? Obviously you don't care anymore…"

Tony interrupted her abruptly saying a little louder than he had planned to, "I don't care about you anymore! Michelle, I've always cared about you! You left me! I've always loved you! I still love you!"

Michelle desperately wanted to believe his words, but she knew that her heart would not survive if he broke it again. Despite her heart's plea to give Tony another chance, her mind kept reminding her of that one fateful day. Michelle was exhausted. She had refused to cry and there she was crying again.

Tony by now was getting agitated, he didn't understand why she was crying and why she felt so much pain. She wasn't the one that was left without an explanation. He then proceeded to almost shout at her,

"Why are you crying? And if I recall correctly, you're the one who left me, Michelle! You left me! With no explanation whatsoever! You just packed up and left me! And now. Now you're engaged! I had nothing Michelle! I gave up my whole goddamn life for you! And this is how you repay me? By getting engaged to some son-of-a-bitch who doesn't deserve you?

Christ, I must some hell of a stupid idiot. I thought we meant something. If I knew that you were just going to leave me after I got out of prison for you maybe I shouldn't have saved you after all. That's what everyone else wanted anyways. That's even what you wanted! But no, of course, I had to be stupid brave knight in shining armor and come to poor Michelle's rescue!

I just to save you! God, I was stupid! And look at how far it got me! Nowhere! Nowhere Michelle! I don't have you anymore. I don't have anything! I've lost everything in my life! All because of my stupid obsession with love. I thought you loved me! You know how many nightmares I had while in prison? And all of them were the same. You were being attacked and I could do nothing to help you. You know how bad that made me feel?

That I wasn't even able to protect my own goddamn wife? You want to know why I saved you? Other than the fact that I loved you? Because I made a promise. When I asked your father for permission to ask you to marry me, he made me promise that I would always protect his little girl. I didn't want to break my freaking promise so I risked everything to save you. And this is what I get in thanks. You, sleeping with another man. Fantastic. This is exactly how I planned my life."

Tony looked into Michelle's eyes pleadingly, saying to her, "I lost everything Michelle. Everything."

Michelle finally looked up at Tony and said to him, "You didn't lose everything Tony. You only lost me."

Tony replied solemnly saying one simple word, "Exactly."

By now, Michelle was crying freely. Crying for herself. Crying for Tony. Crying for them and what could have been. Tony saw the pain he had caused Michelle and immediately went towards her, hoping to comfort her in any way possible. As he approached her, Michelle instinctively pushed him away. Frustrated, Tony tried again, only to be met with her tiny fists pushing him away.

Tony, however, would not give up and instead, moved towards her once more. Before he knew it, her fists balled up and she was hitting him lightly. She had no strength left in her to hit him hard. He held her wrists gently, trying to calm her down.

Every cruel memory, every forgotten feeling, every single she had shed over Tony and everything she had given up to be with him was released. And she screamed at him while weakly hitting him, "It's your fault! It's your fault!"

Tony's jaw dropped when he saw how much pain Michelle was in. How could she be in so much pain? She left me! Michelle however, kept hitting him. She tried to move her wrists as much as possible and hit him over and over until she just didn't have any energy left at all. Her punching was reduced to tiny jabs and she faintly whispered, "It's….It's….all….your….fault."

Tony cautiously released her wrists and carefully looked down at her, "What's my fault Michelle? What did I do to make you hate me?

In fact, if I remember correctly, you're the one who left me. Actually, I should be angry with you! I should be the one hitting you because I'm just as angry at you as you are at me!"

For the first time, Michelle raised her eyes to meet his and said quietly,

"Then hit me. I'd rather you hit me with your fists than have you hit me with your words or with your pain. I'd rather you hit me because while bruises may fade, your words, I can't flee them. They echo and resonate in my head and they just won't leave me.."

Those simple words were enough to send a blow stronger than any other he had faced in a long while. There would be no bullet proof vest or no armored shield strong enough to protect Tony's heart from those words. But Tony persisted, "Michelle, what…is…my…fault?"

And with that, Michelle gave in. She was too weak to fight him anymore. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

"It's your fault that I fell in love with you! Why did you have to be so amazing! Why did you have to be everything I've ever wanted in a man? Why did I have to fall in love with you?"

Her voice broke as sobs wracked her body and she managed to quietly whisper, "And why did you have to take everything away?"

Tony knew just from the look of desperation in her eyes that she wasn't lying. For someone so private to open up and confess that she had loved him with every inch of her being was like wishing on a star. To allow herself to fall that deeply in love with him, that took a lot of guts. But she had loved him with every inch of her being. Tony although caught up in the moment did not miss the use of past tense when she said "loved."

Michelle looked at him, and she pushed him gently away before walking away from him. Desperately trying to make a run for the door so that she could get out of this situation. Just as she reached the door, Tony's hand rested on the door. Refusing to let her go. He had lost her once and he wasn't about to let it happen again.

She could feel his breath on her neck and it sent shivers through her body. She instantly moved away from him. Much to his dismay, she slipped right past him.

She said forcefully, "I told you nothing would change between us Tony. Just let me go. I don't want to talk to you anymore. I just want to go home."

Tony refused to give in. Instead of answering her, he stepped towards her, staring into her eyes, willing her to look into his. Trying to look and see whether or not even an ounce of love she held for him still remained.

She spoke to him in anger. With bitter words that pierced his heart, but he refused to believe that bitter memories were the only thing that resided in her heart. He refused to believe that she had lost all of her love for him.

He looked into her eyes to see what her heart felt, and not what her brain screamed at her to listen to.

Michelle desperately stepped backwards, refusing to look into his eyes. She knew that if she looked into them, she would be entranced. And she would become irrational and lose whatever little control she had left. But mostly, she was terrified that she would feel something, anything if she were to look into his eyes again.

But even as she backed away, he approached her.

She asked once more, urgently, "What do you want from me?"

Tony said nothing, and watched as Michelle continued to back up.

Michelle backed up straight into the corner of the room...

And when she looked up, Tony was a foot in front of her.

And their eyes met. Unintentionally.

Michelle's heart skipped a beat as she looked into his eyes.

They both stood silently, simply staring at each other.

For almost five minutes, all they did was stare at each other. Neither daring to break the silence for fear that it would bring them back to reality.

Finally, Tony broke the silence and he smiled at her. "Do you remember?"

Michelle looked away from his eyes and suddenly found her feet most interesting to stare at, and then as he approached her, she closed her eyes.

Tony noticed that a small curl still hung loosely by the side of Michelle's head and gently curled it behind her ear.

Michelle could feel her heartbeat quickening as he touched her. His touch was electrifying. It was as if sparks were flying everywhere when he touched her.

And once again, Tony questioned lightly, "Chelle?"

Michelle's eyes whipped up at the mention of his nickname for her. She hadn't heard anyone call her that in ages. Brett had always referred to her as Michelle. And frankly she didn't want Brett calling her Chelle. That was Tony's nickname for her.

And as she stared deep into his eyes, she said, "I love you Tony…"

Tony's eyes widened, his chest heaved a huge sigh of relief and his mouth broke into a huge grin. He never thought he would hear those words uttered from her lips again. And he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and kiss her.

His whole face started to lift joyously, when she said one word. One word that destroyed his momentary joy.

"But…"

Tony knew that what little hope he had was crushed. "…that will be the last time you will ever hear me say those words to you."

Michelle struggled to control herself. She didn't know whether she should cry in sadness, or scream in frustration. Tony didn't realize it at the time, but he had broken through her seemingly uncaring and cold attitude. He had gotten her to reveal her true feelings for him.

Michelle did love Tony. She never stopped loving him. Even though she was with Brett, she would never stop loving Tony. He was the first and only love she would ever have. She knew of this. But Michelle was too afraid. Too afraid to be hurt again. Too afraid to let him into her heart again.

She remembered the one line from Moulin Rouge, the only chick flick Tony had ever agreed to take her to see. "Without trust, there can be no love."

And Michelle didn't trust Tony. She didn't trust Tony to hold the key to her heart. She was too vulnerable, as had been proven earlier.

Michelle tried not to cry as she saw the hope and light disappear from Tony's eyes. She gently put her hands on his shoulders.

She then whispered, "Goodbye, Antonio."

The second hardest thing she ever had to do in her life was to pull herself away from Tony. The first was obviously leaving him, but this was more difficult than she had anticipated. She then walked towards the door, and this time, Tony wasn't there to stop her from leaving.

She took one last look at him, he hadn't moved. His back was still towards him, and his head bowed down facing the wall.

And with all of the strength she had left in her, she left him. Left the man that she loved above all else in the world.

A/n: Again, if you could review, it'd be much appreciated!


	6. The Difference

**AUTHOR WARNING **: This chapter contains a more vulgar scene that may be inappropriate for younger readers. Also, the language used in this language isn't exactly language you would want to be saying around Grandma. So, again, read at your own caution.

Thank you to all of the people who have so kindly decided to review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well! And just an advance warning, but I'm going to have to alter some of the time lines of things to fit my story.

**Chapter 6 – The Difference**

Defeated. Broken. Devastated. All words described the state of mind Michelle was in at the present moment. Through her tears, she stumbled towards her car. Trying desperately to distance herself from Tony. She didn't want to see him again. She knew that her heart would not be able to survive another encounter.

She couldn't believe that she had admitted that she loved Tony. She had actually told him what her heart had been screaming at her for the past year. But the fear that had infested her heart overwhelmed her. She was simply too scared to try to work things out with Tony in fear that he would once again break her heart.

Tony was everything she had ever wanted. He was caring, he was loving, he was protective, he was her everything. And he had the power to take all of that away. The shackles of fear still confined her every movement. She loved him so much it scared her. It scared her that at any one moment, Tony could just decide she wasn't worth it anymore and just leave her. Just like he left her before.

A single tear rolled down her face as she drove home. She was thankful that traffic was light. The eerie quietness of the night life proved to be both a benefit and a disadvantage. The silence allowed her to rest her weary soul, but at the same time, the silence replayed in her mind the image of Tony.

How hopeful he had looked! And she had to take all of that away! When he looked at her for that moment with a smile she hadn't seen in months, her weary heart was uplifted for a mere moment, and then she had to destroy his hopes with one simple word. And then when she had left, she couldn't get the image out of her mind of him simply standing there in the corner, defeated.

Tony Almeida, one of the strongest men she knew had given up. He had given up on her. For a moment, she had wanted to believe that there was hope for them. For a moment, she wanted to believe his words, how he professed his undying love for her. She wanted to believe words she knew would haunt her.

By now, she was beginning to hate the silence. It only served as the perfect setting for her to remember the look of disappointment in Tony's eyes. Relentless, Michelle flipped on the radio, hoping that something, anything would take her mind off Tony. And soon, a song came on, that did exactly the opposite.

**Wonderwall - Oasis**

Today is gonna be the day  
That they're gonna throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you gotta do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do about you now

Michelle silently cried as the lyrics to the song came through her radio. She couldn't help but think about how much the lyrics related to her and Tony. Who would ever feel the same way Tony did about her? She wanted to be the world to someone again. She wanted someone to save her from her desperation. She wanted someone to save her from herself.

**Meanwhile, back at CTU…**

She left me. Again. She's given up on us. Tony heard the door close and stood there. All of his pent up anger and frustration was soon to be released. He had failed. He had failed in the most important mission of his life…getting Michelle back.

Tony exhaled sharply in frustration. His hands clenched and his whole body rigid. He had lost the only person he cared for.

He could still smell her perfume lightly lining the room. He had always loved her perfume, but now, it only served as a painful reminder of what he had lost.

And then, his hands went to his chest. And reaching around his neck, he grasped his most cherished possession.

The Evenstar necklace that Michelle had given him all those years ago.

**February 2000**

He remembered back to the day when she had dragged him along to watch "The Lord of the Rings." He had protested, telling her he wasn't into elves and all that gibberish. But she had insisted and given him her best puppy dog look. Of course he could never resist the look and gave in to her request.

As he sat through the movie, he found it surprising how much he started getting into it. Michelle knew that he was hooked when he inadvertently cheered when Aragorn eliminated yet another enemy. Although Michelle had found the movie interesting, she was most interested in the love story between Arwen and Aragorn.

She had fallen in love with the fact that Aragorn had risked so much to be with Arwen. She wondered if Tony would do the same for her. And during one of Arwen and Aragorn's scenes when Tony reached over and gently squeezed her hand before kissing it gently, Michelle knew her answer.

She had also loved the idea that as a symbol of her love, Arwen had given Aragorn her Evenstar necklace. The one that was symbolic for their eternal love. Michelle remembered that Tony's birthday was coming up, and as a token of her love, she was determined to find the necklace.

She searched high and low for the necklace; well not really, she just went onto Ebay and bid on one. On the day of Tony's birthday, she couldn't have been more excited. She was so excited about giving him her thoughtful birthday gift she could barely contain her excitement.

She had eagerly told him that she had found the most perfect gift ever to which he replied lovingly, "Chelle, you're the most perfect gift ever." She had blushed in embarrarsement when he had said that. Even though they had been going out for quite some time then she still felt butterflies in her stomach every time she was around him. And finally, when he opened up her gift, she smiled in eagerness at his reaction.

Tony opened up his gift carefully and when he realized where he had seen the necklace before, he smiled at her lovingly. He went towards her and pulled her into a tight embrace saying sweetly, "I love you. Thank you for the second most perfect gift ever."

She had smiled in appreciation, and instantly set about to clasping the necklace around his neck. Instead of protesting and saying that manly men like him didn't wear necklaces, he allowed her to put it on her. And as he watched how concentrated she looked as she put on the necklace, he couldn't help but think of how adorable she looked.

He smiled at her and when she noticed this, she began to blush once more. He held her close to him and as he felt her connect the two clasps around his neck, he leaned down to kiss her. They shared a loving kiss, and when she pulled away, she used her hand to lightly trace the necklace on his masculine chest.

He loved the necklace. He loved it because it meant that they both loved each other. Sure they didn't need an actual physical reminder to do it, but having something, something physical to grasp onto was something wonderful. He loved the texture of the necklace. And he found himself during the harder times of the day lightly tracing the outline of it. Reminding himself of how lucky he was to have a wonderful as a person as Michelle in his life.

But that was then, and now, the necklace only fortified his pain. He grasped it, carefully taking it off. He stared at it, wanting to erase his pain. But he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't erase Michelle from his mind. Everywhere he went, there were constant reminders of her. And today, today had only made things worse.

However, nothing had prepared him for what she had said to him. She said she loved him. So she did still love me. Then why did she leave? Does she love Brett? Or does she love me? Doubt wracked his mind as he tried to decide what the hell he was going to do.

After pacing around in his old office for a few minutes, he decided that he would pack up and quit CTU. If he couldn't have Michelle then he certainly didn't want to work at CTU. The reason he had even come back to CTU was that he had this thought. This far off dream that if he went back to CTU Michelle would go back to him. That she would somehow come back to home. To see that he had changed. That he was back on his own two feet.

But now, there was no reason for him to be at CTU. Michelle wasn't his anymore. She had someone else. And there would be no glorifying reunion between the two of them. The only thing on the agenda for both of them was pain. Pain of what could and should have been.

Tony walked downstairs in frustration, and angry at the solitude that now surrounded him, he flipped on the radio…

Backbeat the word was on the street  
That the fire in your heart is out  
I'm sure you've heard it all before  
But you never really had a doubt  
I don't believe that anybody feels  
The way I do about you now

Tony scoffed at how true the lyrics were. The love and parseion in Michelle's heart for him was gone. Lost for the ages. Only memories of it existed, nothing more. And he knew that no matter how much another man would claim to love Michelle, no one. **No one**, would love Michelle as much as he did.

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding  
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding  
There are many things that I would  
Like to say to you  
I don't know how

He had given up his life for her. And if he had to, **he'd do it all over**.

Because maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall

He had hoped that she would be the one to save him from his misery, but instead, she only brought him misery. She brought him misery because she represented a life he would never have. A life with her, maybe even children, and of course a life with unrequitable love.

Today was gonna be the day  
But they'll never throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you're not to do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do  
About you now

And as a single tear rolled down Tony's face, he sighed, angry at everything in the world. Angry at himself. Angry for once again, letting Michelle walk out on him.

As Michelle drove back, she wanted to just turn off the radio so that she wouldn't have to hear the lyrics that pierced her hearts in more ways than she imagined possible.

And all the roads that lead to you were winding  
And all the lights that light the way are blinding  
There are many things that I would like to say to you  
I don't know how

I said maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall

Tony was supposed to be the one to save me. He promised that he would protect me from everything. That he would fight hell and high water to protect me. But instead, he only brought he pain. He brings me the pain of remembering. The pain of what our loved **used** to be.

I said maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me?  
And after an  
You're my wonderwall

He had promised that when she was scared, he'd fight away all of her fears. That he would never make her cry and if she did cry he'd be there to wipe away her tears.

Said maybe  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
You're gonna be the one that saves me

But instead, he was the one that caused her tears. And there was no one left to protect her. To protect her from him.

As she arrived home to the place she shared with Brett, she couldn't help but wish that he wasn't home. She didn't want him to see her like this and then have him confront her about it. She and Brett lived in between San Diego and Los Angeles. That way both of them could get to work easily, well if you consider an hour sometimes nearly two hours of driving in rush hour traffic easy.

Luckily for her, Brett wasn't home. Instead, there was a message on her answering machine from Brett. He had said simply,

"Hey babe, listen I'm um…over at a buddy's house over in L.A. and I think I'm just going to crash here for the night. It's pretty late and I'm a way's off from home. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow or something. Love ya!"

Michelle could have sworn that she had heard a woman's giggle as she listened to Brett's message, but she ignored it. She was too tired to care. She was too distracted by the thought of another man. One that she knew deep down in her heart she would always love.

Michelle sighed as she thought of the impossible situation she had put herself in. She obviously still had strong feelings for Tony, but there she was, wearing another man's ring. But contrary to popular belief, Michelle's relationship with Brett was far from perfect.

There were things about Brett that were just so different from Tony. For starters, she had noticed how he rarely said, "I love you," instead, he opted for the "love ya!" part which she wasn't very fond of. Tony had always spoke those three words to her. Simply because they were special and Tony knew how much she loved hearing him say those three words to her.

And another thing was that she didn't feel safe around Brett. Megan had already voiced her concerns, but Michelle thought they were unprecedented so she had no reason to worry. But as of recently, Brett had been getting slightly more aggressive. He had been more pushy and more vulgar in his language.

She had told him that she would not sleep with him until they had gotten married and this had frustrated him. Unlike Tony, he hadn't accepted her wish of celibacy until marriage and instead called her a prude. And a few times more than not, he had even pushed her. Of course immediately after pushing her, he would apologize profusely. Citing his bad temper to a bad day at work or something of that nature.

He hadn't actually been physically abusive towards her, but Michelle was always a little scared. She never felt that way with Tony. She knew that no matter what happened, Tony would never hit her. Sure he would get angry with her but the most he would ever do was throw words at her.

But with Brett, there was that manner of uncertainty. She had no idea about where she stood with him. Her parents had even warned her. The minute they brought Brett home to meet them, her father had eyed him carefully. Her brother Danny had also voiced his concern. Maybe it was the need to be the alpha male in her life, but neither her parents nor her brother really liked Brett.

And even though they knew that it was hopeless that Michelle would reunite with Tony, they still had this lingering hope that someday, somehow by some magical power, they would both be able to reunite with one another and live the life they had always wanted. A life in the suburbs, with children and with love.

She knew what Brett was capable of and at times, it scared her. She had seen him beat up some guy because he was talking to Michelle. That was also one thing about Brett. Brett would get insanely jealous and irrational whenever another male approached Michelle. Even if it was a polite greeting, he would get uneasy and immediately and roughly maneuver Michelle away.

At first, she found it nice to have someone dote on her and care about her. But as time progressed, she noticed how he seemed to get overly possessive of her. Even as she made a move to hug her brother, Brett's hand never left her waist. And he questioned her endlessly. And anytime a male left a message on her answering machine, even if it was regarding work, he would grill her with questions.

At times, she felt completely at ease around him, but other times, she was terrified. She was so scared that one day he would just snap and start hitting her or something. She had never felt that way with Tony. Sure Tony had been protective of her but he had never been possessive.

Tony let her have her own life. Sure if they went somewhere Tony deemed "unsafe," he would gently wrap one arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. But that was normal. What Brett did was he tried to walk directly behind her literally pushing her along while clinging to her.

She couldn't even mention how she thought Brad Pitt was cute without Brett throwing a hissy fit. He would complain about how no one was ever good enough for her and that maybe she should just shut up and appreciate what she had. Whenever she had mentioned one of her celebrity crushes to Tony, he had laughed them off, instead countering with how he thought Jennifer Aniston was hot.

Thoroughly exhausted, Michelle finally went to bed, bracing herself for tomorrow, when she would undoubtedly come face to face with Tony again.

Michelle woke up the next morning, with marseive eye bags underneath her eyes. She sighed as she knew that no matter how much make-up she put on, she wouldn't be able to hide them completely.

She had wondered for a second where Brett was, but then she remembered that he had called saying he was going to stay over at a friends' place. But she had no time to worry as she readied herself for work.

She took a warm, relaxing shower and then put on a business suit before making her way towards CTU. She braced herself to see Tony again, she braced herself for the fallen man that she would soon encounter. She arrived at CTU, determined to hide from the rest of the world the immense pain she felt.

She expected the see Tony's fallen features. But how surprised was she when she arrived and saw him chatting almost candidly with Curtis. They had just shared a joke and both were laughing heartily. Curtis acknowledged her and immediately brought her up to date while Tony quietly slipped away, without saying anything to her.

Michelle listened half-heartedly to Curtis as he updated her on what was presently going on at CTU. But it was hard for her to pay attention when she felt Tony's presence only a few feet away. However, she was no longer concerned that she was the cause of his pain.

In fact, he didn't appear to be in pain at all! He seemed to be quite happy! He laughed and talked with co-workers as if he was the happiest man on the earth. Sharing little laughs with everyone and he didn't even look at her! Not once did he steal a glance her way. She knew of this because she had been staring at him pretty much the whole time.

She struggled to contain the grief that overcame her. Wait, why was she caring? She shouldn't be the one that cared! She should forget about him the same way he had so obviously forgotten about her! But no matter how hard she tried, her eyes were constantly drawn to him. Her eyes dark with pain.

After Curtis was finished with his update, Michelle went straight upstairs and proceeded to drown herself in her work. She was looking for a distraction, any distraction at all to not have to think about Tony. However, she couldn't help but notice that Tony was rarely at his station that day. And whenever he was around his station, he always seemed to be tidying things up.

She wondered what he was doing, actually, that was pretty much the only thing she thought about that day. Did he somehow become a neat freak during the time they weren't together? Is that even possible? She didn't think this was a very valid reason, so instead, broadened her thinking. And soon, it hit her. He was leaving.

That's why he's cleaning up. He's not actually cleaning, he's packing. As this newfound realization entered her mind she couldn't help but wonder '_How can he leave me again?'_

Tony stared up into Michelle's office, knowing that he would inevitably have to face Michelle to alert her of his formal resignation. He had been dreading this all night. He hadn't slept last night, instead, replaying their encounter in her office and then rehearsing his resignation speech.

He couldn't remember the last time he had been so nervous. Even when Michelle had walked in, he had been blown away by her beauty. But obviously that didn't matter anymore to her. After all, she had her new fiancé. And Tony, Tony had no one.

He had picked up on how her eyes had been focused on him earlier that day. Almost as if she pitied him. But hell, he didn't need her to pity him. He didn't need anyone to pity him. He was fine all by himself. He tried hard to convince himself that this was true, but even as he spoke the words, he knew it was all but a lie.

For the past year, he hadn't slept in a bed. He had always slept on his couch. His reason? He hated waking up at night to a large empty bed. Michelle used to be on the other side of the bed. And he used to watch her sleep for hours. And then he would wrap his arms around her waist and protectively pull her closer. She would instinctively snuggle closer to him, and content, Tony would fall into a deep, peaceful slumber.

Now, the nights were lonely. Gone were the times where he would feel Michelle's warm body next to his and gone were the nights where he lay awake for hours un-end watching her delicate features highlighted by the dim moonlight that streamed in from the windows. Replacing all of that was an eerie silence, only every so often broken by Tugger's soft meowing.

Tony couldn't help but be saddened by the memory of what used to be. But he knew, that staying at CTU would only make things worse. Who knew how long Michelle was going to be there? What if she was arseigned permanent director of CTU? Then what would he do? Just go on with his life pretending that they meant nothing?

Tony knew that he would never be able to do that. But staying wouldn't help matters either. Thankfully, the morning had parseed without much happening. It was lunch time and he decided that he would go out with Jack for lunch. After all, if he was leaving CTU, he needed to tell Jack. Jack had been his only friend through everything. Regardless of their prior differences, Jack had helped Tony through his roughest moments. And hell, he had even gotten Tony his old job back.

And as he left CTU, he took one look up at a certain person. A certain person who just happened to be staring right back at him.

It was almost as if she could feel him leaving. All of a sudden, her eyes were drawn out to the exit and so surprised was she that Tony was looking up at her. But he soon looked away, walking out the doors. Her heartbeat quickened. What if he wasn't coming back? What if he just left? But he couldn't have!

She desperately tried to rearseure herself that if he was actually leaving, he would at least have the decency to tell her. But then she remembered the irony of what she had just said. She had never told him why she left him. She had just left with no explanations.

At the time, she had thought it was the best thing to do. It would save them both a lot of pain and it would allow Tony to move on with his new infatuation. All she had ever wanted was for him to be happy and if that meant she wasn't meant to be with him, then well, so be it. Sure she was heartbroken, but she was willing to make a sacrifice in order for Tony to be happy.

After all, he had sacrificed his life for her. It was the least she could do.

Suddenly, she was snapped out of her thoughts by a call. She answered, "Dessler."

"Ms. Dessler, there is someone at the door, claiming that he is your fiancé, his name is Brett Connors. Should I let him up?"

Michelle rubbed her forehead in frustration. This was the last thing she needed. Brett was one of the last people she wanted to see right now. And why was he coming to CTU? What did he want? However, Michelle knew that if she refused entrance to Brett, he would undoubtedly throw a tantrum later that night and demand an explanation. And frankly, she just hoped that he needed some quick cash or something and he would just leave her alone to her work.

She replied very unenthusiastically, "Sure Kahlen, let him up. Thank you."

Within a few minutes, Brett was up in her office, with a scowl on his face.

She looked at him and tried to pretend that everything was normal and asked him,

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing here? Did you need something?"

Brett glowered at her, while closing the blinds that lined her office and snidely said, "I saw Almeida on his way out…"

He waited for her reaction and when he noticed how she flinched at the mention of Tony's name, he pursued it further.

"What the hell is that son of a b!tch doing back here? He couldn't even hold a job at my bar and now he's in charge of fighting terrorism for our country? What kind of fuked up director allows this kind of sh!t to happen?"

Michelle couldn't believe her ears. How dare he! Tony was more than qualified to be protecting the country he loved so much. What on earth gave Brett the right to be knocking on Tony when he was practically living off of Michelle at the present time?

Michelle said in her most neutral voice,

"Let me arseure you that Agent Almeida is very qualified, and if your worry lies about whether or not he is capable fighting against terrorism, then your worries have no merit…"

Brett interrupted Michelle, furious that she was defending him and asked her angrily, "…Did you screw him?

Is that how he got his job back? Cause you still had feelings for him?"

Michelle was outraged by now, how dare he accuse her of something like that! "How **dare** you!"

"I did not sleep with Tony! How could you accuse me of something like that! Don't you know me better than that? I'm not the reason Tony's back at CTU! He was back before I was even arseigned director of CTU!"

Michelle by now, had stood up and was almost screaming at Brett. Brett however, scoffed at her answer and instead replied harshly,

"I don't believe you. Why should I? I saw the way you looked when I even mentioned that basard's name. You're still in love with that basard while wearing my ring. I bet you fuked him last night. After all this time where you told me you wouldn't sleep with me until we got married and here you are screwing Almeida.

You know what that makes you, Michelle? A whore. That's what you are. You've got my goddamn ring on your finger and you're sleeping around with your ex-husband…"

And after hearing those hateful words, Michelle slapped him.

She couldn't believe it, but she slapped him. All of her pent up anger for this man had been released. But what he did next surprised her even more.

He hit her back.

She was so shocked from the blow that she staggered backwards. Never in her life did she imagine she would end up in an abusive relationship. And yet, there she was. Her fiancé had just slapped her.

She cowered against his much larger frame. By now, Brett was furious. She had just slapped him. That must mean that she was indeed sleeping with Almeida. The little b!tch had told him no sex until marriage and yet there she was sleeping around.

He approached her, as her small frame cowered protectively around her own body. She immediately recognized the possible danger in this situation and tried to make a mad grab for the phone. But he had predicted this move and instead pushed her away from the phone, her shoulder slamming into one of the cabinets.

Surely by now someone must have heard the commotion that was going on upstairs. But then she remembered, it was lunch time. Barely anyone would be in the office at this time, most of them would be in the cafeteria. No one would be able to hear her screams even if she did scream for help.

The office had been made soundproof in order to ensure the privacy of meetings. And now she couldn't help but think how their own technology was working against them.

As soon as her shoulder slammed into the cabinet, Brett dragged her up roughly by her shirt, and shoved her into a wall. With his hand covering her mouth in case she decided to scream, he then said,

"You know what, b!tch? Almeida had his fun last night. Now, it's my turn. And if you even think about screaming, I will hit you. Hit you so goddamn hard you will wish you had never been born. Understand?"

Michelle weakly nodded as tears began to stream down her face. How did she get herself into this situation? This would have never happened with Tony. Tony would have never hurt her. He was always so protective, and now here she was, at Brett's mercy. She knew struggling against him was useless. He was so much stronger than she was, and she already weak after having only slept a few hours the night before.

Her face was now covered with tears as she felt his hand reach underneath her skirt and brutally pull down her panties. She could feel his arousal pushed roughly against her petite frame. It seemed the more she cried, the more violent Brett got. He kissed her forcefully, forcing his tongue down her throat.

Her screams were muffled by his mouth over hers and her hands were pinned up against the wall with one of his hands as he struggled with his belt and pants with the other. Michelle by now was panicking. She knew that if she didn't do anything soon he would rape her. But what could she do. He had used his lower body to effectively pin her legs apart so she couldn't kick him. And with his hands pinning her small arms up, she was immobilized.

Michelle begged him to stop, crying and begging for him not to continue. But this only seemed to anger him more as he then slapped her. And soon, he forced himself inside of her. By now, her sobs had turned into cries of pain, of violation, of helplessness. She whimpered against the pain and prayed and hoped with everything that it would soon be over. But after what seemed like forever, she finally heard him let out a loud moan of satisfaction.

By now, Michelle was too distraught to say anything. To retaliate in any sort of way. She wanted him to leave. She wanted everyone in the world to just disappear. But most of all, she wanted Tony. She wanted Tony to wrap his strong arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted him to comfort and protect her. But she knew that it would never happen.

Brett however, was not done with his onslaught of Michelle emotionally. He then wickedly said to her,

"And if you ever think of telling anyone about this? I will personally make sure you pay for this. After all, all of my friends think that you're some sort of whore that just can't get enough of me. The authorities will never believe you…and you know what else?"

Michelle tried her best to shut out his evil voice, but she couldn't help but be shocked by what he said next.

"You know what else? If you tell anyone, it'll inevitably get to your little precious Tony. And what then? Is he going to want a whore like you? You're tainted goods baby. No other man in their right mind is ever going to want you. Especially not Tony. And you know what? Whose story is he going to believe when I tell him that his ex-wife was begging me for sex? Or is he going to believe his ex-wife, the one who left him with no reason at all, goes back to him, begging for forgiveness?"

He laughed at her shocked expression of realization. But then, Michelle walked right up to him and with all the strength she had left in her body, she said,

"You will pay for this. I will make sure of it. I don't care about your empty threats. They mean nothing. I will have your arse in jail for the rest of your life you basard."

Michelle watched as his eyes flared in anger at her retaliation. And with one bold move, she said bitterly, "Oh, and just for your information, you aren't and won't ever be even half the man Tony is."

The last comment she made pushed Brett over the edge, as he hit her, and as she fell, her head hit against the side of her desk, and suddenly, everything went black.

A/n: You guys know the drill! And to all of the people who review my story after almost every chapter, **THANK YOU!** You guys are the reason I'm writing and it's really great to know that you like the story! So thanks!

**OH**. And I'm thinking of introducing a couple of new characters into the story, so does anyone have any suggestions as to both a name for a female character and a name for a male character? I've got a few ideas, but I'm interested in seeing what your suggestions are. If I do happen to choose a name you suggest, I will **personally** email the next chapter to you a couple of days earlier! Oh, incentive! )


	7. The Chance

**Chapter 7 – The Chance**

**Author's Note:** First off **my sincerest apologies** as it has taken me so long to update. Just with finals and moving and everything else life's been hectic to say the least. And as for the names I've asked for you guys to volunteer, they won't appear for another few chapters. So if you still have suggestions for names for a male and a female character, please feel free to suggest them. Again, thank you for all the reviews. Once more, here's another chapter. Enjoy.

**Meanwhile…**

Tony and Jack were just about through with their lunch. Tony had talked to Jack, thanked him profusely for everything he had done for him and told him of his impending resignation. Jack had tried to convince Tony to stay and that running away wouldn't help but Tony had refused simply saying,

"I need to go Jack. There's nothing for me here. Start off in a new place, a new job, a new life. Another chance."

Jack shock his head in disappointment as he knew that wasn't the reason Tony wanted to leave Los Angeles. Jack had seen the look in Tony's eyes. It was a look of disappointment that Jack remembered all too clearly. Not long ago, Kate had told him that they needed to go their separate ways. Jack hadn't understood. He thought everything was going fine and then out of the blue, she just crushed him with this blow.

But Audrey was right. The one talent Jack Bauer had was pushing aside emotion. He, like Tony had drowned himself amongst a ridiculous amount of work. He had taken on numerous missions at a time simply to forget her. And then Audrey had come along.

It wasn't as if Jack didn't care for her. He did. He really did. He cared for her well-being, he cared that she was safe and happy. But he didn't feel that same comfort with Audrey. He had suspected for a while that she still had feelings for Paul Raines, but had made no move whatsoever to confront her about it. After all, who was he to confront her when he so obviously still had feelings for Kate Warner?

But his personal romantic endeavors aside, he was still upset that Tony would leave. Despite everything, Jack had never seen any two people more perfect for each other than Michelle and Tony. They fit perfectly. Anyone who had seen them together would attest to that.

Ever since that day he had met Michelle outside of Firefly, she had become a changed person. She didn't have that sparkle in her eyes, the lightness in her step, that smile on her face. All of those things disappeared after she left Tony. Jack had always been a close friend of Michelle. She was a little sister to him and he always looked out for her. When she had started seeing Brett, Jack played the caveman older brother role, refusing to relinquish Michelle to another man unless he himself deemed him trustworthy.

Michelle had shrugged off Jack's seemingly protective demeanor and insisted that she could take care of herself. However, despite the fact that Jack knew that Tony had hurt Michelle in some way, he refused to believe that there was no hope for the two of them. So of course, he couldn't help but be pained when he saw Michelle dating another man.

And Jack had always been wary of Brett. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but there was something about Brett that just didn't seem right. He had done a background check on him, and there had been nothing unusual. One arrest for DUI when he was eighteen, and another arrest for assault of some sort. But there were no details on the assault, it seemed as if the charges had been dropped, but for some reason it was still on his record.

Jack had confronted Brett about this and Brett had shrugged it off, saying him and a buddy were just a bit too wasted and some neighbor had called the cops on them. Brett shrugged it off and said that it was no big deal, just a misunderstanding. Jack had eyed this guy up and down and although he knew he couldn't do anything more, he still wasn't comfortable around the guy.

But Jack had seen Michelle. The old Michelle. Or at least parts of her. She seemed happy with Brett. She smiled, she laughed and she seemed to be relaxed around Brett. So Jack had let her be. Because more than anything, he just wanted her to be happy. Of course he would have preferred for her to be happy with Tony, but at the present moment, that wasn't the most realistic thing.

But as he sat across from Tony, Jack didn't know what to say. He knew that it was a fruitless endeavor to try and convince him to stay, but Jack had this hunch that Michelle and Tony would one day work out their problems. And when Jack Bauer had a hunch, he follows through with it.

He looked up at Tony and said,

"You can't keep running from her Tony."

Tony's head snapped up at the mention of Michelle. He scoffed, and said forcefully,

"I'm not running away from anything, Jack. She's moved on. I'm happy for her. I'm over her, Jack. It's time I moved on too."

Even as he spoke the words, Tony knew they were not true. He would never love anyone else. Despite what everyone else thought, he had never loved Nina. He had cared for her deeply, but he had never loved her. But Michelle. His Chelle. He had loved her with everything in him.

Jack persisted, saying,

"Then seeing as how you're totally over Michelle, I would presume you would be personally alerting her of your resignation."

Tony looked up and said,

"Yeah, I was planning to do that when we got back from lunch."

Jack looked up at him, and satisfied for the time being, he just had this feeling that somehow things would work themselves out when Tony told Michelle he was resigning. Jack was sure Michelle would reveal her feelings for him and that everything would turn out okay.

As they made their way back to CTU, Tony couldn't help but feel nervous. He hadn't talked to Michelle since their encounter last night. And frankly, he had no idea where to start. He couldn't just walk in there and be like, "Hey Michelle, just wanted to tell you I'm going to leave. Okay? Great. See ya."

He started bouncing his leg up and down and Jack noticed this. He wanted to say something but he knew that it would only make Tony more nervous. And as they pulled into CTU, they were almost run over by another car. A red Ferrari that was pulling out of CTU, and Jack almost immediately recognized the driver of the car…Brett. He wondered what Brett was doing driving like a maniac but then the question that bothered him even more…What the hell was Brett doing at CTU?

Brett looked down at Michelle's crumpled body. She was unconscious and it was his fault. But his momentary guilt was washed away and soon all he could think of was getting out of there. He tidied himself up, tucked in his shirt, and straightened out his jacket before calmly making his way down the stairs. Nonchalantly, he left CTU and as soon as he was outside of the building, he went straight for his car, and sped out before anyone could find Michelle's helpless body and link him to her injuries.

As Brett drove off, he convinced himself that everything was Michelle's fault. If that stupid bitch hadn't been fucking around behind his back he wouldn't have needed to use force. Hell, if she ever tried to press charges, it would be his word against hers. He shrugged everything off, and without a single look back, he started to make his way towards his new home…Mexico.

Tony and Jack made their way back into CTU and Tony went to Edgar and asked,

"Edgar, is Michelle up in her office?"

Edgar replied,

"Last I heard, Ms. Dessler was still up in her office. Some guy came down a couple of minutes ago, but I didn't see her leave and she hasn't checked out or anything."

Tony nodded his head and said,

"Thanks, Edgar. I'll give her a call up to tell her I'm going up."

Tony picked up the phone and dialed the all too familiar number as he waited eagerly for a response. The phone kept ringing but no one was answering. He looked up and noticed that all of her blinds were closed which was strange. He asked Chloe,

"Chloe, does Michelle normally close her blinds?"

Chloe crinkled up her brow and said,

"No, not that I can remember. They're normally open. Isn't that basic protocol?"

Tony by now was getting a little bit concerned. He tried Michelle's number again and still, no answer. He called out to Jack,

"Hey, Jack! She's not answering her phone, so I'm going to go up and see if she's up there, alright?"

Jack nodded and went off as Curtis called him to update him on a mission.

As Tony made his way up the stairs, he couldn't help but feel this dreaded feeling that something was wrong. He didn't know what was wrong, but as he quickened his pace until he reached her office door. He carefully knocked, calling out,

"Michelle? Michelle are you in there? It's Tony. I kind of wanted to talk to you."

After waiting for a few seconds, and still no answer, Tony made his way into her office. He looked around to see if Michelle was around and from his first inspection she was no where in sight. He made a move to turn around and go back down the stairs but something drew him back.

Instead, he made a second more detailed scan of the room with his eyes and he noticed something. He saw Michelle's hand on the ground. With his heart pounding, he ran over to her and what he saw next, almost brought him to tears.

Michelle was lying in a pool of blood, unconscious. He tried desperately to wake her up, calling her name, Michelle! Michelle! Wake up! Can you hear me! Michelle! Wake up!

When she gave no response, he ran to the door, screaming,

"JACK! CALL 911! MICHELLE'S HURT! JACK GET UP HERE!"

Jack heard Tony's screams and immediately told Curtis to call 911 and get an ambulance on the way to CTU as he raced up the stairs to look at Michelle.

And when he reached Michelle, he saw Tony kneeling over her, almost to the brink of crying, frantically trying to wake her. Jack looked Michelle over, and saw that she was bleeding profusely from a head wound. And while he went back to the door, Curtis called up at him and told him that the ambulance was only a few minutes away. Jack nodded his understanding and immediately remembered. Brett. That son of a bitch. He had done this to Michelle. He had hurt her. That's why that little asshole was driving like a maniac. To escape.

But he couldn't think about that right now. Right now he had to go back inside and take care of Michelle. Jack had no doubt in his mind that Tony still cared deeply for Michelle, and he was bearing witness to it. Tony hadn't left Michelle's side and was trying his very best to make sure that she was okay. And in this situation, although he couldn't be of much help, Tony still was caring for her. Moving objects away from her body, but at all times aware of anything that might cause further harm to her.

While Tony held Michelle's hand, coaxing her to wake up, he noticed a few bruises on her hands. In fact, they looked very much like handprints. As if she had been struggling. He couldn't help but feel so much anger. WHO would have done this to her? Who could have hurt his beautiful Chelle? He swore that he would make the son of a bitch pay.

As the paramedics rushed upstairs to tend to Michelle, Tony was insistent that he stay with Michelle. Every step of the way from when they put her onto a stretcher to when they carried her down the stairs, he was within a few feet of her. The paramedics had insisted that they would take care of her, but Tony had refused to let her out of his sight. He had demanded that he be let onto the ambulance and when they had asked him who he was, he didn't know exactly how to respond. Thankfully for him, Jack answered for him and said,

"He's her husband. He'll ride with her to the hospital. Tony, I'll meet you there in a car."

Tony had whipped his head at Jack at the thought of being called Michelle's husband again, and thanked Jack with his eyes. He climbed onto the ambulance and when out of the prying eyes of people at CTU, he dropped his head into his hands, and said silently to himself,

"_I'm sorry I didn't protect you, Chelle."_

The ride to the hospital was one of the worst of Tony's life. He couldn't help but feel helpless as paramedics worked to save Michelle. He knew that she had lost a lot of blood, but other than that they wouldn't tell him anything. He had asked if she would be okay, and all they said to him was,

"We don't know right now, Mr. Almeida. We're going to try our best."

Tony wanted to scream at the man that their best wasn't good enough if it didn't ensure that Michelle would be okay, but he knew that screaming at the men trying to save her wouldn't help her. So instead, he nodded. When they arrived at the hospital, they immediately whisked her into the ER and Tony was told that he was to wait outside.

Tony wanted nothing more than to just hold Michelle in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay but for now, he would have to simply sit in a waiting room, waiting to see whether or not they could save the woman he loved more than anything in the world.

When a doctor came out into the waiting area and called for Tony, Tony almost leapt out of his seat in anticipation. He immediately asked the doctor,

"Is she okay! Is Michelle going to be okay?"

The doctor tried his best to calm Tony down and said,

"Mr. Almedia, you might want to sit down for this…"

Tony's eyes widened and he said defiantly,

"No. She's not. She's not dead. You can't tell me she's dead god damnit!"

The doctor tried once more and said,

"No, Mr. Almeida, your wife isn't dead. But she's not doing well. It seems that she has suffered some blunt force trauma to the back of her skull. And she's lost a lot of blood. It's unfortunate that she hadn't been found sooner or else the paramedics could have tried to stop her bleeding, but as things are right now, Ms. Dessler is in a coma."

Tony tried to take in the words as best he could. Blunt force trauma? Loss of blood? Coma? He took a deep breath and asked,

"Coma? When will she wake up?"

Dr. Cox looked at Tony and said gently,

"We're not sure. It could be a few hours, a few days, weeks, months maybe."

And with those words, Tony felt as if his heart had been shattered. But he knew that crying wouldn't help so instead, putting on a front, he asked,

"Can I see her?"

Dr. Cox looked at the crestfallen man, and said,

"Of course, Mr. Almeida. You can visit her as soon as the nurses take her to one of the Intensive Care rooms. I'll have Nurse Miller lead you there."

Tony absentmindedly nodded his thanks to Dr. Cox. He couldn't believe it. Michelle was in a coma. And it was all his fault. He hadn't been there to protect her when she needed him the most. He had promised that he would always protect her and he had failed…again. As Nurse Miller lead him to her room, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the sight of all of the tubes connected to Michelle.

She looked so tiny, so fragile. Another nurse was in the room and looked up as she saw Tony enter. She saw how crestfallen this man was and couldn't help but feel for him. She gently said,

"You must be Mr. Almeida. I'm Nurse Calhoun, I'll be one of the nurses looking after Ms. Dessler. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

Tony looked up at her and nodded his understanding and when Nurse Calhoun noticed that Tony wasn't going to say anything, she suggested,

"Sometimes, it helps if you talk to her. Most comatose patients can still hear you. And actually, ever since you got in here, her heartbeat has picked up. It's beating a bit stronger already."

Tony looked at Michelle and gently stroked her face. He pulled up a chair and asked,

"Is it okay if I stay with her? I just…I just don't want to leave her. And, you know, in case she wakes up I don't want her to wake up alone."

Nurse Calhoun couldn't help but be so touched by how much this young man cared for Michelle and although family members were normally only allowed during visiting hours and two additional hours, she said,

"Of course, Mr. Almeida. I'll make arrangements for another cot to be brought in."

Tony replied,

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I don't think I'll be doing much sleeping anyways."

And as the nurse left the room, Tony gently stroked Michelle's hand and said,

"Hey Michelle. It's me, Tony. I just want you to know that we're all really worried about you and we want you to make a really quick recovery. We want you to get better Michelle. Please, get better Chelle."

Tony stared at Michelle's lifeless body and was almost brought to tears as he started talking to her once more,

"I don't know if you can hear me or not, but if you can, I might as well tell you this. Michelle, I love you. I always have. I never, not even for a moment stopped loving you. Even when you sent me divorce papers, I still loved you more than anything. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for all of the pain I've caused you. But don't worry. Because as soon as you get better I'll get out of your hair for good. I'll leave and I'll let you live your life. I'm sorry I even came back to CTU. And I'm sorry I've made things so…difficult.

I never deserved you. You were so good to me. Too good for me. I thanked God every single night before I went to bed for you. And I still do. I know that we're not together anymore but I still thank him for letting me meet you. You were everything to me. I wasn't lying when I said that when I lost you, I lost everything.

You were my reason for living. You brought so much joy and love into my life. I don't know how to thank you for it. I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I know it's my fault that you're in the position you're in right now. If I had come upstairs into your office earlier, you might not have lost so much blood.If I hadn't been a shit husband we'd still be together and this would have never happened. …. If I…if I had never come into your life, this wouldn't have happened."

Tony laid his head down by her hand and couldn't help as a single tear rolled down his cheek. But as he heard the door behind him open, he quickly wiped away the tear, but he never took his eyes off Michelle. He had a hunch that it was Jack and before long, Jack appeared on the other side of Michelle, looking down at her while sighing.

"I called her parents and Danny. They're on the next flight out of Chicago and should be here soon."

Tony nodded and for a moment thought about how he hadn't seen his ex-in-laws and ex-brother-in-law in ages. He wondered how Danny would take it. Danny had always been suspicious of Tony and would probably be angry at Tony for hurting Michelle. But Danny had a reason to be angry. It was after all his fault.

Jack looked at Tony and saw how he hadn't taken his eyes off Michelle and asked him,

"Is there anything I can get for you Tony? Coffee?"

Tony shook his head and insisted that he was okay, and before long, Jack had to leave. CTU was still in need of his services and they had already lost Michelle and effectively Tony so they needed Jack back at CTU. Jack reluctantly left Michelle's bedside and told Tony to keep him updated of any progress she made.

Tony said goodbye and again focused his complete attention on Michelle. The nurses came in to do a night-time check on Michelle and noticed Tony still vigilantly sitting at Michelle's bedside. He had refused food they had offered him, only taking a cup of coffee. The nurse had told him that he would be best to save his strength, but he had refused food. She then left him, and told him that he would be back in a few hours to check up on her again and that if Tony wanted to sleep, she could bring in a cot for him. Again, Tony said that he was fine, and thanked the nurse.

The next morning, the Desslers had arrived and upon rushing into the hospital, they immediately asked if they could see Michelle. Of course, the nurse granted them access, but told them that only one of them could go inside as Michelle already had another visitor. They asked who it was and one of the nurses replied,

"A very handsome man has been doting on Michelle all night long. He hasn't slept a wink, but he's been by her bedside all day yesterday and so far, all day today. Tony Almeida I think is his name."

Mrs. Dessler gasped as she heard Tony's name mentioned. Tony? Michelle's Tony? The Tony that Michelle had left all those years ago? What was he doing here? Were they back together? Mrs. Dessler couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of hope rush through her body that Tony and Michelle were back together, but pushed those thoughts aside, as she went inside the room.

The Desslers had thought that it would probably be best if Mrs. Dessler went in as to not overwhelm Tony. The males in the family were extremely protective of Michelle and Susan was afraid that if her son or husband were to get into a room with Tony, they would start accusing him of things that were not of his fault.

She tentatively entered the room, and immediately felt tears rush to her eyes at the sight of her baby girl connected to so many machines. Susan was aware that Michelle was in a coma, but still, the shock of seeing her so helpless was crushing. She also noticed Tony. He was leaning over her, carefully curling a stray curl behind her ear and then sitting down beside her. She noticed how he appeared to be exhausted, his shoulders sagged and she was sure she heard a yawn escape him.

She watched him for a while, as he doted over her only daughter. She always knew that Tony was the man for Michelle. Even when Danny had come in exclaiming that Tony wasn't good enough, Susan knew that none of their opinions mattered. Her baby girl had fallen in love with a wonderful man, and all she ever wanted as a mother was for her children to be happy.

And so happy was Michelle during her courtship and marriage to Tony. She had never seen Michelle smile so much. There wasn't a day when Michelle wouldn't just light up at the mere sight of Tony. Susan knew that her daughter had fallen in love when Michelle had brought Tony over for dinner to meet the Desslers.

When Tony had come over, Danny and her husband John had taken Tony into the other room to discuss both baseball and his intentions with Michelle. Susan had managed to get Michelle away from Tony and immediately she noticed how Michelle seemed to glow when with Tony. Her eyes sparkled as Tony wrapped his arms around her thin frame.

And her laugh was infectious. Susan noticed how all throughout dinner, Tony would cater first to Michelle and then to himself. And occasionally, Tony would lean over and whisper something sweet into Michelle's ear to which she giggled and blushed. Susan's heart leapt with joy at the thought that her daughter was so happy and she couldn't help but welcome Tony with open arms into their family.

Even Danny had to admit after that dinner that Tony was a pretty good guy. It was rare to see his sister so happy and of course John approved of Tony. After all, John was an avid Cubs fan himself. Their whole family loved Tony. Danny's kids adored their Uncle Tony. And when they came after dinner to play, Tony had offered to take them outside and before long, both of Danny's kids were climbing on top of Tony, giggling and laughing.

Tony loved kids. And kids loved Tony. They were having so much fun and Michelle couldn't help but think of how wonderful of a father Tony would be. Danny's kids laughed and played with Tony for hours. Normally, most of the adults would have tired of them after half an hour, but for almost three hours, Tony played with them. He taught them how to play baseball, he taught them how to play tag.

Susan had noticed the look on Michelle's face as she looked on at the sight in front of her and whispered into Michelle's ears,

"You hang on tight to this one. He's going to make a great daddy one day. And when he becomes a great daddy, I'll expect to have many more grandkids."

Michelle had blushed at her mother's comment but couldn't deny that the exact same thoughts had been running through her head. Tony would make a great dad. And frankly, she couldn't wait until they had kids of their own. She had always wanted a big family. And Tony seemed like the perfect father. He was caring, he was patient and most of all, he was loving.

Susan sighed as she thought about how all of those dreams had been shattered. Michelle had never told her of what happened so she wasn't about to take sides. Susan knew that Michelle was stubborn as hell at times and from what she could see, Tony wasn't exactly Mr. Easy to Get Along With either. They were both stubborn, but at the same time they were both crazy about each other.

Sure they had their fights, but they also had love. But when Michelle had come home that day telling her parents that she left Tony, Susan wasn't sure what to think. How could she leave him? Especially in her situation? And more importantly, why would she leave the man she loved above all else in the world?

None of it made sense to Susan. But she knew that Michelle could be bull-headed so she left her alone. But now this new boy of hers, Brett. He wasn't exactly someone Susan would brag to her girlfriends during one of their weekly gossip sessions. Sure he was handsome, but there had to be more than just looks to a man. Susan had noticed how he was impatient and quick to anger. He was also terrible around children.

Danny had once again brought his kids along for the dinner and when they asked to play with Brett, Brett had shooed them off. Telling them that he was busy. And when Carly accidentally ran into him while running from her brother Jeffery, Brett had flipped out. Almost screaming at her to be more careful in the future. Danny had of course immediately yelled at Brett to not to scream at his children.

Susan fondly remembered back to the time when Carly was sitting in Tony's lap and had accidentally spilled grape juice onto his new suit. Carly had apologized profusely, afraid that her Uncle Tony would be upset. But instead, he had laughed it off and said playfully, "Here's my chance to use that new detergent I wanted to try!"

Susan had always loved Tony as if he had been her own son. He was a very special man and there was no doubt in her mind that he was the **only **man for Michelle. Regardless of whether or not she had said yes to Brett's proposal, Susan knew that no matter what Michelle claimed, she would never love another man the way she loved Tony.

Susan finally approached Tony and said cautiously,

"Tony?"

Tony's head whipped around at the all too familiar feminine voice and his eyes widened as he saw Susan standing there.

He immediately started to say,

"I'm sorry."

Susan's heart broke at the thought that Tony was sorry. This wasn't his fault. She had been alerted that the security cameras at CTU had caught Brett's all too-hasty exit and police were now on the hunt with a warrant for his arrest. However, this information had been kept away from Tony based on Jack's call. Jack had said that it was probably best to not alert Tony that they had a suspect or else Tony might do something irrational. Susan agreed completely with Jack and knew how protective Tony was of Michelle. So instead, she lightly said,

"Tony, it's not your fault. If anything, we should be thanking you for finding her when you did. If you haven't had found Michelle, who knows how long she could have been lying there?"

Tony brushed away her gratitude and once again countered,

"I could have found her sooner. And this never should have happened in the first place, if I hadn't been such a terrible husband none of this would have had to happen. I'm sorry, Mrs. Dessler."

Susan looked up at him calling her by that name, and remembered fondly onto the time, when she had insisted he call her Susan instead of the formal 'Mrs. Dessler' but he had insisted that it was a form of respect, and finally she had managed to get him to call her Susan but only after him and Michelle were married.

She had noticed how much care he took when caring for Michelle. She noticed the heavy bags under his eyes and wondered when he last had a good night of sleep. He looked a little older. His eyes were a little harder than how she remembered the last time. But what hadn't changed was his love for Michelle. Susan's suspicions were correct that Tony was still in love with Michelle. Actually, Susan already had her own hunches that Michelle was still in love with Tony. And from the way Tony cared for Michelle, she knew her former son-in-law still had strong feelings for her daughter. Unless that was how he cared for every single girl he met, which Susan hoped was not the case.

Right after they had heard from Michelle that she was leaving Tony, their whole family had gone through possible reasons that would cause Michelle to leave him. And of course, right at the top of the list was infidelity. But now, looking at Tony, she knew that he would never have cheated on Michelle. No matter how bad things might have been going, Tony loved her too much to cheat on her. But that raised more questions. Then why did she leave him? If he didn't cheat on her why did she leave him?

Did she fall in love with another man? But then how could that explain the many empty tubes of Ben and Jerrys and how she almost exhausted Coscto's supply of Kleenex? Something didn't fit and Susan was determined to get to the bottom of things. But for the time being, the most important thing was that Michelle was nursed back to health. Nothing else mattered at the moment.

The exact same thought ran through Tony's head, as he continued to pray and hope that somehow Michelle's eyes would open and she would be okay. He didn't care about anything else in the world, he just wanted her to be okay. And with that in mind, he said to Susan,

"I promise you, I will make whoever is responsible for this pay for this. They won't get away with hurting her this way. And if I had the chance to switch positions with her, I would. I hate this feeling. I hate not being able to help her."

He walked around Michelle's bed, frustrated, and Susan put a comforting hand on his shoulder and said gently,

"None of this is your fault. I promise you Tony. If Michelle were awake, she would be telling you the exact same thing."

Upon hearing her words, Tony couldn't help but scoff and wonder, what if Michelle were awake? What would she be doing? Would she tell him that everything was okay? Or would she tell him to leave her alone and to get out of her life for good? He was leaning towards the second option and couldn't help but be disheartened by that. But he vowed that the would not leave Michelle's bedside until she told him to. He would not leave her the same way he left her.

A/n: Again, read and review! Thank you in advance!


	8. The Lost

**Chapter 8 – The Lost**

For two weeks, Tony sat vigilantly by Michelle's bedside. Refusing to leave her just in case she woke up. He didn't want her to wake up alone and be scared and unaware of where she was. He wanted her to see a familiar face, but as the days passed, he couldn't help but wonder would it be his face she would want to see? Or would she be repulsed by him and send him away? Doubt tugged at his heart and he had no idea what to do.

He hadn't slept for more than two or three hours a night since Michelle had been admitted into the hospital. The times he slept were when the Desslers were all in the room and the nurse told him that he needed to leave. John Dessler had looked at Tony and instead of attacking him and asking him why Michelle wasn't protected, he had simply told Tony, "Thank you," and given him a comforting pat on the back.

When Danny had first come into the room, he had almost grown hysterical. He couldn't bear to see the sight of his baby sister hurt and tied up to so many machines. He had demanded an explanation from Tony as to how he could ever let something like this happen to her. Tony, instead of arguing back that none of this was his fault, conceded defeat to Danny and instead, apologized.

Susan had scolded Danny for accusing Tony of something that wasn't his fault but what shocked her even more was that Tony actually seemed to believe that everything was indeed his fault. That everything he had done was in vain.

Jack had come into visit, in which he alerted the Desslers that they had managed to catch Brett before he tried to skip over the border to Mexico and that he was now being held on $500,000 bail. The Desslers had been greatly relieved that the man who had done this to Michelle would have justice brought upon him, but it did little to ease their overall anguish at Michelle's current condition.

All of this information had been kept from Tony and as of that moment he hadn't a clue as to who had hurt Michelle. But he knew that at the moment, the only thing that was even vaguely important was that she got better. The nurses had continued to do their daily checks of Michelle, none of them noting any significant change. However, Tony refused to give up hope, praying and pleading that Michelle would open her beautiful brown eyes and everything would be okay again.

Michelle was his lifeline. Despite the fact that they had been divorced for quite some time she was still the reason he lived. When he had first arrived in prison, the inmates questioned his reason for saving his wife. Was it worth it? He had always answered immediately that if he had the chance he'd do it all over and to this very moment, he thought no differently.

It didn't matter to him that he wasn't there to hold Michelle when she went to sleep. All that mattered was that she was safe. And painfully, he thought, even if it meant with another man. Tony hadn't understood why Michelle had left him. But he never tried to pursue it. He knew firsthand how stubborn she could be, so instead, he gave into her wishes, letting her go.

He tucked a lose curl gently behind her ear and sighed as he saw how fragile she looked. He wanted nothing more than to help save her and rescue her from the clutches of pain.

As the day dragged on, Tony started to feel the effects of only sleeping a few hours and felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness. And soon he felt his eyelids shut as he rested his head near Michelle's hand.

Unbeknownst to him, shortly after he fell asleep, Michelle had begun to wake up. Still groggy from the effects of the morpheme, she couldn't exactly place where she was. And when she looked down to see the figure near her hand, she couldn't focus in on him. The only thing she could see was the figure of what appeared to be a man. A man. A small gasp escaped her lips as she thought about Brett. It was Brett. He had managed to get away without getting caught and now he was back to hurt her again. She silently cursed and wished that she could move away from him and struggled to maneuver her body as far away from his head as possible.

A few hours later he was awoken by movement of some sort. He looked up to see Michelle awake and at first he had to blink away his sleepiness to make sure that it wasn't just a dream. He then gently said,

"Michelle?"

Michelle still couldn't properly focus on the image in front of her to see that it was Tony and instead proceeded to try and back even further away from him as he put out a hand towards her.

Tony just wanted to touch her hand to make sure that she was real. But he noticed that as soon as he said her name she recoiled. She was shifting so far away from him and he hadn't done anything to her. He begrudgingly came to the conclusion that she was disgusted by the mere sight of him. She couldn't even stand to be near him.

But determined to prove his love for her, he tried once more saying gently,

"Michelle, it's me. I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to make sure you're okay and everything. I swear."

As he said those words, Michelle was still too disoriented from the effect the drugs had on her and all she heard was a man's voice telling her that he wouldn't hurt her. But at this point in time, her instincts told her not to trust anyone…especially not Brett. Her eyes widened in fear as Tony's hand reached out for her and instead she told him,

"Get away from me."

Tony stared in disbelief as the words left her mouth. Did she just tell him to get away from her? Why? What did he do?

Tony tried again and this time said,

"Michelle, I promise you I mean you no harm. Look, I'll just stand over here and we'll talk okay?"

Michelle instead shook her head decisively and said,

"No. I want you gone from my life. You hurt me after you promised you would never ever hurt me. I don't want to see your face ever again. I don't care about what you're going to do. All I know is that every time I even so much as see your face I get nightmares. I don't want you to ever come near me again. I just…I just…I just want you gone. Just leave."

As Michelle's unintended hurtful words left her mouth, Tony's heart shattered. Everything he had even dared to hope for was crushed. Michelle hated him. She said so herself. He slowly backed away as those crushing words left her lips. Sighing in disappointment, he relented to her wishes and said once more,

"I'll go. But remember this, it was always me who loved you and still loves you. But I know I've messed up and I guess things just can't go back to the way they were. I'm sorry I ever came into your life. And now I promise you'll never have to worry about me again. I'm going to leave you alone for good."

Tony's strained voice was close to breaking with emotion as he said those words and as he watched Michelle's face filled with fear as she looked at him. She had never looked at him that way. She looked at him as if she were terrified of him, as if she was expecting him to raise his hand and hit her. But she must have known that he would have never laid a finger on her in anger. He would never hit a woman, much less the woman he loved above all else.

Tony slowly walked away from her bedside and towards the door, but before leaving, he turned around once more to take one last look at his Michelle and said quietly,

"I love you Chelle."

At these words Michelle's eyes widened slightly. Did he just call her Chelle? But Brett never called her Chelle. Only Tony called her Chelle…

But she soon convinced herself that it was the medication that was getting to her. She was groggy and she must have just misheard him. Brett probably said Michelle and said the "Mi" part quietly. Michelle erased the possibility that it could have been Tony. After all, he wanted nothing to do with her. He had his new girlfriend, he no longer cared for her.

After staying awake for a few minutes to make sure that "Brett" didn't return into the room, Michelle once more feel asleep.

As Tony silently left Michelle's room, he made his decision that he would leave immediately. He would go home, pack up the few belongings he still kept and get on the first flight out of LA to anywhere. Anywhere at all. All he wanted was to erase Michelle from his mind. Her hurtful words, everything.

As he left the room, he ran into Susan, who was surprised that Tony had left Michelle's bedside looking so…so…defeated. She said immediately,

"Tony! So you finally decided to give your legs a little exercise? This is the first I've seen you outside the room in more than two weeks! Is everything alright? Did you want me to go pick up some food for you?"

Tony looked down at the kind woman and couldn't help but smile at how Susan had always been so friendly to him. He had always adored Susan and he knew that she had always liked him, so needless to say, their mutual respect for one another was great. Tony smiled politely and answered,

"No, I'm fine, Susan. But thank you for offering…"

Susan held up her hand to silence him and instead offered,

"Tony, I know that you and Michelle aren't on the best of terms right now. But I want you to know this. I have always loved you like I've loved one of my own children and that's because I know you're meant for Michelle. I know my daughter can be a stubborn one sometimes but I know that you're the one for her. And I honestly cannot thank you enough for all the care you've shown towards her since this whole terrible ordeal started. So I thank you from the very bottom of my heart."

As Tony heard her words, his heart soared with pride. But soon, those feelings left him as he told her silently,

"I had best be going now…"

Susan looked at him with shock and questioned,

"Going? Where are you going?"

Tony sighed as he answered quietly,

"Away. Away from here."

By now Susan was getting concerned. What did he mean away? Where was he going and why was he leaving before Michelle got better?

"I don't understand, Tony. Why are you leaving? Don't you want to make sure that Michelle is okay? I know that she'd feel much more comfortable if she awoke and you were there by her bedside…"

Tony scoffed at her words and instead countered saying,

"Mrs. Dessler, you know that I will always love Michelle no matter what happens, but right now, I need to get away from this. From everything. Even as I stand here, I feel my heart breaking. I spent the last year and a bit getting over her and honestly, I haven't gotten anywhere. And now, seeing her in this position, I don't know what to do. I just need to get away from it. Let Michelle start her new life with her fiancé."

As Susan heard the word fiancé, she couldn't help but feel a rush of anger arise. But Jack had told her that she wasn't to tell Tony that Brett was the one who had caused all this harm to Michelle, so she kept quiet instead pleading with Tony,

"Tony, I know this year has been hard on both of you, but trust me, I know my daughter and she would rather wake up to your face than to anyone else's. I know how much she loves you still, Tony."

Tony sighed as he wished with all his might that those words were true. He wished that he could believe that Michelle still loved him as much as he loved her. But he knew that those were nothing but lies. She had told him straight out she hadn't wanted to see him ever again. And as much as he loved her, he loved her enough to grant her wish. Tony said gently,

"Susan, please, just let me leave. And if Michelle wakes up don't tell her I was here, okay?"

Susan was beyond baffled by now. Not only was Tony leaving Michelle but he also didn't want her to know that he had been by her bedside for the last couple of weeks? What was going on here? She asked,

"Why wouldn't you want her to know that you've been vigilantly standing by her side while she was here? What's going on, Tony? What aren't you telling me?"

Tony was starting to get frustrated with himself and he just said,

"Please, Susan. Trust me. It's better this way. I just don't want her to know I was here. So please, just don't say anything about it? Please, I'm begging you."

Susan had never seen Tony so downcast before and couldn't help but agree and reluctantly she said,

"If that's what you wish, then I won't tell her you were here."

Tony nodded his appreciation and said thank you and made a move to leave before Susan's voice brought him back once more.

"But Tony, if I might say, I know she would have wanted to know the man she loved more than anything else in the world took such care of her during a time like this. And trust me, I know she still loves you, Tony. Regardless of what front she might put up to the world…"

And those were the last words Tony heard before he left behind the one person he loved more than life itself.

Again, if you could be bothered to just push that tiny button down there and review it'd be most appreciated. Thank you in advance!


	9. The Change

A/n: First off, my sincerest apologies for the lack of writing in this story, it's just everything's been ridiculously hectic. But now, that I have time, I hope to start writing bunches of chapters all together. Again, reviews are always appreciated. To all of the readers out there, thank you very much for even taking time to read this. So how about I stop talking and let you all read on. Here goes!

**Chapter 9 – The Change**

With a heavy heart, Tony slowly entered his apartment only to be met by an appreciative purr from Tugger. Tony had called his sister, Christina, and asked her if she would take care of Tugger while he was with Michelle and she had obliged gratefully, saying it would give her a chance to get out of the house where three young children all under the ages of ten lived. Tony picked up Tugger and scratched behind her ears to which she snuggled closer to him. He then said to her,

"Well, it looks like we're going to have a change of scenery around here. So how does Virginia sound?"

Although he wasn't really expecting an answer from Tugger one way or the other, saying it out loud for the first time made Tony realize that he was actually going to be leaving L.A. This had been his home for more than fifteen years and although he didn't love everything about LA, there were certainly some things he was going to miss.

Where else would you be able to call for Chinese food at 3:30 in the morning? Where else would the pizza delivery guy arrive before an ambulance? Where else would he find a friend as good as Jack? Where else…where else would he ever find someone like Michelle?

And out of all of those questions he knew only the answer to the last one. No where.

He'd never find anyone even remotely like her. She was his one, his only, his forever. But none of that mattered now as she no longer wished for him to play a role in her life. So instead, he forced himself to face the facts and start to move on.

It was however, no easy task. Although friends had told him that he had made great strides in moving on, he knew that he had actually made very little advancement. Indeed, he still wore her necklace.

Hidden from the prying eyes of the world he wore the necklace daily. It allowed him to feel connected to her. Even though they were no longer together, it allowed him to believe that someway, somehow they would somehow get together again.

Leaving L.A. would be hard there was no doubt about it. His parents and younger sister lived in L.A. He would miss them no doubt, but he would also miss his nieces and nephews. He thought about not having the chance to see the twins, Nathan and Tyler, and their little sister, Hayley, grow up. He adored them and they reciprocated his feelings. He was their favorite Uncle Tony. Albeit, he was their only Uncle Tony, but that made no difference.

**Flashback…3 years ago**

He was the cool uncle. The one that they went to school and bragged about how he could carry a gun and how if their little friend didn't share the finger paints, Uncle Tony would come after them. He was the Uncle that whenever he babysat them allowed to stay up as late as their little eyes would stay open and let them have candy for breakfast.

He remembered one day when seven-year-old Hayley ran up to him and told him about how she liked Jeremy, a boy in her class who had shared his pudding with her. Tony, pretending that he was hurt that he was no longer the number one man in his life had asked the typical protective male question, "Is he a nice boy?" Hayley had giggled and told him that Jeremy was very nice indeed. She then proceeded to ask him,

"Uncle Tony? When do you know you're in love? Mommy and Daddy always tell each other they're in love. Am I in love with Jeremy?"

Tony stared down at his little niece and brought her up to sit on his leg while he carefully explained to her,

"Well, Hayley, you see, the thing is love is when you go to sleep thinking of that person and you wake up the next morning still thinking of that same person. He or she is the last thing you think about at night and the first thing you think about in the morning. It's that feeling that everything's better when they're around."

As he explained this to her, his eyes started to drift off towards a certain someone who was at that time talking to his mother. Hayley's perceptive eyes followed Tony's and landed on Michelle. Hayley then ventured just a little bit further and asked,

"Is that how you feel about Auntie Michelle?"

Tony looked down at her and with a smiling face said,

"That's how I feel around you! You know you're my number one girl!"

He then proceeded to tickle her to which she tried to squirm away from him while laughing gleefully. Michelle looked over and couldn't help but be warmed by the sight in front of her. Tony and his adorable niece. Michelle couldn't help but think; I wonder what he'll be like with our daughter one day. As soon as that thought entered her mind, she prayed that her daughter would be angelic or else the ever protective Tony would die from the thought of her ever dating. As she daydreamed momentarily, Hayley came running up towards her. Michelle took her in her arms as Hayley laughed and giggled and then whispered for Michelle's ears only,

"Uncle Tony says that he thinks about you all the time! He also said I'm his number one girl, but I'm willing to share him with you!"

Michelle giggled at this and said to her,

"Well, that's very generous of you, Hayley!"

Hayley, proud at herself for being praised by Michelle bounded off to go and play with her older brothers who at the moment were playing the very enticing game of who can run around in circles the longest before dropping to the ground from the dizziness.

As Tony approached Michelle, she excused herself from his mother and went towards him. Upon reaching him, she put his hands on his chest and then pulled him in for a sweet, lingering kiss.

Tony looked surprised and asked,

"What was that for?"

To which Michelle simply replied,

"For thinking about me all the time."

Tony's face lit up in a big smile before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in for another kiss…only to be met with a round of "Ewww" and "Gross!" from Nathan and Tyler.

**End of flashback**

Tony knew it would be a huge change and his parents probably wouldn't be thrilled about the idea of their son leaving L.A. They were still recovering from the loss of Tony's older brothers to Chicago. But inside his heart, Tony knew that sacrifices had to be made.

He had made more than a few for his country, and now, it was time for him to make yet another sacrifice. Jack, being the ever resourceful Jack had told Tony that if he was still interested, a job as Head of Field Operations was available in Virginia. Tony had thanked him and said that he'd take it.

After packing for a few hours, he called his parents and his sister and told them of his decision to leave LA. They were visibly shaken by his announcement and came rushing over to his apartment to make sure that no one was holding a gun to his head or anything like that. He assured them that he would keep in touch and that he'd call at least once a week. After finally ushering his parents out of his apartment at close to midnight, he then proceeded to check the flight Jack had booked for him. 10:45am. That was a good time. It meant he didn't have to get up at like 4:30 and rush to get to LAX. And as Tony shut his computer down, he proceed to settle into a night of what was hopefully a deep and peaceful slumber.

But alas, that was not meant to be. For instead of sleeping while sugar plum fairies danced in his head, he spent the night wondering how on earth him and Michelle had gotten to the stage they were presently at.

While packing, he finally realized that he did indeed have a lot of stuff that was Michelle's. Anything as insignificant as one of her sweaters to their wedding photo album. He knew that in order to get over her, he would have to part with these belongings but he had no intention of simply throwing them out. Those memories were too precious to him. So instead, he packed everything that even minimally reminded him of Michelle into a large box, taped it down from every angle possible and promised himself that although he wouldn't throw her belongings out, he would never look at them again.

He vowed to himself that as soon as he settled down in a house in Virginia, that box would become a permanent fixture in the corner of his attic. Never to be talked of, never to be looked at, never to be opened.

Finally, at around 4:30 in the morning, he managed to drift off to sleep dreaming about none other than Michelle.

**Back at the hospital 8:39 pm**

Susan sat by Michelle's bedside as she tossed slightly. The doctors had told her that Michelle had indeed woken up, but was still very groggy and disoriented from the effects of the drugs. Susan thought about how it was such a pity she couldn't have awoken a few hours ago to Tony's face.

As Michelle slept, Susan stared down at her only daughter and sighed. She couldn't believe that Tony had left. He didn't even really explain why he had left. She knew that he needed to get away and that the divorce had taken its toll on Tony, but never did she expect for him to leave Michelle when she needed him most. None of this made sense. Her mothering senses heightened and she realized that something else must have happened. Something must have happened to make Tony leave.

Suddenly Michelle started to whimper. She was having a nightmare. Susan tried desperately to calm her down and felt her heart break when Michelle uttered four words:

"Tony…please…help me."

Susan tried soothing Michelle and she tried waking her by gently coaxing her out of her dream, but Michelle still whimpered in fear. When Susan finally managed to wake Michelle from her nightmare, Michelle stared into her mother's eyes and Susan for the first time, noticed the tears that filled Michelle's eyes.

Michelle cried into Susan's shoulders and simply said,

"Mom, he was after me. He was hurting me and there was nothing I could do. I didn't want it to happen. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just can't get his face out of my mind. And…and…no one was there to help me…"

And then in a whisper Michelle said,

"…not even _Tony._"

Susan held onto her daughter and took every tear Michelle gave. She reassured Michelle that she would never be hurt again and that she would always be safe.

As Michelle heard these comforting words from her mother, she couldn't help but think _the only way I'll ever feel safe again is if I feel Tony's arms around me. That's the only way._

After a few minutes of holding Michelle tightly, Susan felt Michelle's breathing even out and soon, she felt her drifting off towards slumber once more. She silently looked on and as John entered the room, she walked towards him and said to him,

"They didn't deserve this. Neither of them deserves the pain they're both going through. She's scared John. Our baby's scared and the only person in the world that can make her feel safe is leaving her."

The tears that she had been holding back for days finally started to flow as Susan cried for Michelle, for Tony, and their family.

**The next morning 6:30 am**

Tony swore as the alarm rang and alerted him that it was indeed time for him to get up. He looked over and wished that instead of saying 6:30 it said something like 3:30 so that he could get a few more hours of shut eye. He was exhausted. He had slept only two hours the night before and just as the alarm woke up him, he was having another flashback about him and Michelle.

Michelle.

Today would be the day he left his Chelle for good.

No doubt one of the hardest days of his life.

He groaned as he reluctantly got out of bed to shower. After making himself a cup of coffee, he heard his doorbell ring. Jack was on the other side and as both men greeted each other, Jack couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that his one true friend was leaving LA for good.

Tony had promised that they would keep in touch with emails and that if Jack was ever in Virginia, Tony would be his personal tour guide. Jack had visited Michelle the night before at around 9pm and had been told by Susan about what Michelle had said earlier that night. Jack's heart broke for Michelle, and when Susan had asked him where Tony was going to, he could only solemnly reply, "Virginia."

As the word Virginia echoed in her head, Susan tried to place the pieces together. Virginia? As in the other side of the country Virginia? Why would Tony go so far away from Michelle?

She asked Jack as to why Tony would leave for Virginia out of all places and he answered, although not completely honestly, that Tony simply wanted a change of scenery. After everything that happened in the past two years, Tony just wanted to start anew again.

And here he was, standing in front of Tony, helping him with his bags and carrier for Tugger. Tony took one last look at his apartment and with a slight twinge of regret, he said goodbye to the place he had lived in for the past eighteen months. He had never called this place home because frankly it wasn't his home. Home was where the heart was, and his heart was with Michelle and always had been.

The ride to the airport was uneventful. Both men tried to make small talk, but truth to be told, they could only talk about the weather so many times. After it, in LA where it almost never rained, "weather's nice" could only be said in so many different ways.

As they arrived at LAX, Jack gave Tony a small package. He told him that it was a gift from everyone at CTU, a small thank you for everything he had done for them during his stay at CTU. Tony had thanked him and told him to pass the word to everyone at CTU. Jack and Tony looked at each other for a few seconds, knowing that it was time for them to say goodbye.

And so without further hesitation, Tony rubbed the back of his neck and said,

"Thank you, Jack. For everything. For getting me back a job I even marginally liked, for helping me, for just everything. You've been a true friend all these years and I can't thank you enough. You've always been there for me and well, frankly, I feel kind of bad for leaving you and everyone at CTU at a time like this. I probably should have given you guys more warning and stuff."

Jack interrupted and said,

"Hey, you need to do what you need to do. We all only do the best we can. Right now, all you need to focus on is getting over to Virginia and starting over. It might…no, it'll be good for you. And it's been an honor to be your friend, Tony. We're gonna miss you around here."

Both men shared a slightly awkward straight-guy two pat on the back being moving apart both putting on their own sunglasses before Tony disappeared into a mass of travelers entering LAX. As Jack watched his best friend leave, he couldn't help but hope that Virginia would be good for Tony. Because if it wasn't, then he would have left LA for nothing, he would have left Michelle for nothing.

As Tony entered LAX, he couldn't help but feel as if he had already left LA. He proceeded to go through the ticket counter, requesting a window seat if possible. He smiled fondly at the memory of how Michelle had always asked for the window seat, saying that she liked being on the inside knowing that he was on the aisle seat protecting her. She also stated that if the plane was going down, she at least wanted to see where they were going to land.

As he proceeded through Customs he couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness. He had asked his parents and sister to see him off at the airport because he had wanted to save them the pain of seeing him leave, but now, as he realized it, he was quite lonely.

The customs lady had been nice enough to allow him to bring Tugger on board as their flight was under booked. There were plenty of extra seats on board and she figured a small cat wouldn't do much harm to anyone. As he boarded the plane, he took one last look at LA. One last look at the place where he had fallen in love, had his heart broken, and the place that almost took her away.

A/n: Again, if you could review, it'd be MOST appreciated. Thank you all for reading!


	10. The Gamble

**A/n:** In regards to the person who anonymously posted a review, I would love to answer your questions but the thing is I have absolutely no way of reaching you, so therefore, I'll answer them here. In regards to your questions first off, when Tony's number one concern is Michelle's well being and for her to recover, his wanting to find the person who did it to Michelle would be without a doubt a secondary priority. And secondly in regards to the question about why Michelle's mother didn't tell her about Tony being there – that question will be answered in this chapter. And in regards to as to whether or not Tony would have doubted Michelle's overall state of mind when she woke up, I honestly believe that Tony would have been so elated that Michelle was even awake to notice anything else. Also, Jack's loyalties lie with his friends. Asking him to choose between Michelle and Tony would be completely unfair. I hope this answers your concerns and if you do have anymore questions do feel free to email me or leave your email so that I may be able to get back to you. And in regards for not dragging out the angsty misunderstanding stuff, this all leads up to one pivotal moment and I hope that none of you will be disappointed when it does occur. So, without further delay, here's chapter 10 and 11. Enjoy!

**Chapter 10 – The Gamble**

When Tony's plane touched down in Richmond, Virginia, he couldn't help but notice how different things already felt. He was once again a complete stranger to his surroundings. He knew no one in Virginia, and somehow he figured he wasn't going to make friends all that easily outside of work.

After picking up his luggage, he hailed a taxi and they were on their way to his hotel. He had a couple of meetings with agents the following morning in regards to house hunting in the area. After a while of exploring the hotel and doing a couple of internet searches for potential houses in the area, Tony called it a night and for the first time in a long time, he slept through the night.

The following morning he woke up refreshed and ready to take on the world. He had left LA on a Thursday and had arrived late Thursday evening which meant he had all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday to look at potential houses before he had to report to work on Monday.

Most potential house buyers would have been thrilled at the idea of having three whole days to go house hunting; however, Tony, wasn't all that thrilled. He hadn't cared much for the place he lived in so long as it had TV, a kitchen, a washroom and a bedroom. But even today, he was feeling extra picky about the houses he looked at. The first house he was told by the incredibly perky almost to the point of annoyingly perky Amanda was the home of an ex-drug lord. His house had been raided and in effect turned over to the government. But it was on sale and it was in totally good condition…minus the smell.

Upon entering that particular house, Amanda's eyes teared up as the smell struck her nose. Tony began to feel faint after only a few seconds and although Amanda tried her best to convince him that it was nothing a little Febreeze couldn't take care of. Tony thanked her but made his way out as quickly as possible, almost running to his rental car.

After two days of no luck whatsoever, Tony begrudgingly got himself out of bed on Sunday and went to look at the final house on his list within his price range. He met Morgan at the house and even before entering into it, he knew this was the one. Sure it was a little bit far from his job, but it was perfect. It was a large house, much too large for a man to live in himself, but that didn't matter. This house would have been the perfect house for him and Michelle all those years ago.

It was a classic Victorian house with little blue shutters outlining the windows and a balcony right over the front door. It had a large backyard that would be perfect for barbeques or other family gatherings. Although the house was well kept, there was no denying that he would need to make some major renovations. Much of the original paint had chipped away and many of the shutters were barely hanging on. In addition to that, the balcony looked as if it could use with a few reinforcement boards here and there. But all in all, it was a glorious house. And Tony knew that once he fixed it up it would be perfect.

Perfect for him to start his new life in.

**Meanwhile…back in Los Angeles**

Michelle was finally well enough to get out of bed and was being discharged later that day. The doctors had given an all-clear and just told her not to stress out and to stay in bed as much as possible. Susan, John and Danny were all determined that they would stay with her until she was well enough to fend for herself. She couldn't object as she knew that she probably wasn't well enough to be taking care of anyone at the present time.

Upon arriving home, Michelle was ushered straight into her bedroom and after being made sure that she was comfortable, Susan makes a move to leave the room to let Michelle sleep. But instead, Michelle calls her back and asks the question she's been dreading for quite some time,

"Mom? Did they get him?"

Susan turned around and nodded her head and couldn't help but relax when she saw the relieved look on Michelle's face. Susan then proceeded to say,

"They caught him the day you were brought into the hospital. They were very lucky. He was trying to skip over the border to Mexico and one of the Customs officials recognized his photo and stopped him. He's being held on $500,000 bail and he's awaiting his hearing."

Michelle looked at her mother and as worry filled her face, Susan saw it and reassured her,

"Michelle, you don't have to testify. He's already pleaded no contest to the charges after CTU handed over video evidence of what he did. He's going to go away for a long time sweetheart. Don't worry about it. He's not going to hurt you or anyone else again."

Michelle relaxed at the revelation that she would not have to go and testify. Frankly, she didn't know if she had the strength to testify against him. To see the man who hurt her. To see the man who professed to love her and then proceeded to hurt her like no other person had ever before.

As Michelle processed this information in her mind, she relaxed as she replayed everything that had happened within the past few days…but wait…something didn't make sense.

If Brett was already in custody the day she was admitted to the hospital then who was that man by her bedside that told her he would never hurt her? That he loved her? If it wasn't Brett, then it could only be…one…other…person.

**No.**

It couldn't be.

He wouldn't have come to tell her that.

But doubt plagued her mind as she asked her mother another question,

"Mom…besides you, daddy and Danny did anyone else come? Like to visit me while I was in the hospital?"

As Susan watched the hopeful eyes of her daughter, she wanted to rush to her and say,

"Tony was there with you! For two weeks he stayed by your bedside refusing to leave you in case you woke up! He loves you Michelle! With every fiber in him, he loves you!"

But then, she remembered her promise to Tony that she wouldn't tell Michelle he was there. So torn was Susan. Should she tell Michelle about how Tony was so diligently by her bedside throughout the course of her ordeal or should she respect his wishes and just let Michelle move on with her life?

Susan debated the two sides in her mind, although her loyalties did lie with Michelle she wondered what the revelation that Tony was there would do to her. He obviously didn't want to be around her anymore, how would Michelle take it? In her present situation, she needed to be as stress-free as possible and telling her that Tony had been there would only cause her to worry and to wonder about why he left.

Michelle watched with worry as she saw the many emotions go through her mother's face. She couldn't read anything. And finally, after much deliberation, Susan said carefully,

"No, sweetheart. No one else came."

Susan saw the glimmer of hope fade from Michelle's eyes and couldn't help but be saddened by this, but at that present moment, she thought it was best to protect Michelle from the truth. Maybe when she was healthier Susan would tell her the truth.

Michelle sighed in disappointment and is obviously crestfallen at the discovery that it must indeed have been a dream. No one came to visit her but her family. Michelle had hoped that Tony would care enough to go and visit her while she needed him most, but obviously that wasn't the case as he was probably with that blonde skank of his.

However, it was at that moment that Michelle made a decision. No longer would she weep for what was in the past. And Tony was a part of her past. The only thing she needed to focus on right now was getting healthier and being able to take care of herself and her family. Nothing else mattered.

**Two years later…**

Jack was sitting in his living room watching the game as the Dodgers played the Yankees. His Dodgers were up by four and he was indeed very pleased. It was his first day off in a long time. However, if he did have a complaint it was the fact that he wasn't exactly able to sleep through the night. Not that he minded of course…especially when it meant him spending a blissful night with **her**.

She silently crept out of the bedroom after waking up and proceeded to try and tiptoe towards him. However, she was no match for him as he had already heard her approaching but for her sake he wanted to humor her and pretend he had no clue she was coming. When she reached him she placed her arms around his chest to which she sighed.

He playfully picked her up from behind the couch and swung her around until she was in his lap. He smirked at how cute she looked in his oversized Dodgers jersey and his boxers. He nuzzled his face against her soft skin and then proceeded to kiss her softly on the lips. She smiled at him in adoration and kissed him back.

Jack smiled to himself and thought about how lucky he had been to find her again. How lucky he had been that she had taken him back despite everything that had happened. And as he looked at her, she stared right back into his eyes, grateful for the fact that she was once again in the strong arms of Jack Bauer.

Jack remembered when he had told Kim he was back with her. She had been thrilled. Out of all of her father's girlfriends (as weird as that sounds its true) she had been Kim's favorite. She was attentive and caring, she was loving and funny, she was indeed the perfect woman for her father and Kim knew of this.

Soon she giggled and Jack asked her,

"And what, Miss. Warner are we laughing about?"

Kate looked at him and said simply,

"You. You looked so deep in thought for a moment. So deep in thought that you missed Derek Jeter hit that grand slam. And by the way, my Yankees are now ahead of your Dodgers 4-2."

Jack's eyes whipped towards the screen and he couldn't help as a "crap" escaped his throat as he saw none other than Derek Jeter round third base en route to his grand slam. Now if there was one thing Jack had to criticize about Kate, it had to be the fact that she was a Yankees fan. Honestly, who in their right mind would be a Yankee fan unless they were from New York?

One thing Jack loved about Kate was how she could be his everything. She could be playful and feminine when the situation called for it, but she wasn't high maintenance. Despite the fact that she had grown up quite wealthy, she didn't feel the need to buy outlandishly expensive clothing, instead, preferring to buy clothes that were comfortable. Jack also adored how she could sit down with him and watch a game and have a couple of beers. Many of the other girls he had dated demanded that a date meant that they had to go to some five class restaurant while dining with fine wine. Sure Kate liked those things, but she also liked it when they stayed home and simply enjoyed take-out and watched a movie.

However, in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers rallied with a 3 run inning and much to Kate's dismay and to Jack's delight, pulled ahead of the Yankees 5-4. Jack cheered triumphantly as his team pulled off the come-from-behind victory which secured them a berth in the playoffs. By then, both of them had gotten quite hungry and decided to go out for lunch.

As Kate stepped out of the car in a flowing floral sundress, Jack couldn't help but be wowed by her beauty. She had delicate features that were all accentuated by the dress. She grabbed his hand playfully and led him towards the restaurant they were going to, a small bistro called Le Petit Zinc. They ordered and enjoyed their meal together as Jack wondered how on earth he had been lucky enough to meet someone as great as Kate.

Indeed, he knew that he would want her in his life for oh the next sixty? Seventy or so years? Yes ladies and gentlemen, marriage was on Jack Bauer's mind. He had already asked Bob Warner for Kate's hand in marriage and Bob had readily conceded, knowing that Jack was a good man and would be perfect for his beloved daughter. The only question was when should he ask her? Jack had debated this for many days and frankly, he still had no idea. The ring was with him at all times in case he decided that there was a perfect moment and that he should just get down on one knee and propose, but that perfect moment he so desperately wanted hadn't happened yet and he would have to wait at least a little bit longer.

After finishing off lunch, Jack and Kate made their way towards the mall. Kate needed to pick up a dress for the evening's festivities. Warner Enterprises was having an appreciation party for their employees and Kate and Jack were invited to partake in what was sure to be an evening of partying.

Kate insisted that Jack go off by himself while she shopped for her perfect dress. When he protested telling her he wanted to spend the afternoon with her, she had told him that he would just have to wait. She wanted to surprise him in her dress so he would just have to go off to the arcade or something. Jack laughed at the idea of him going and playing inside an arcade, instead opting to go to the sports memorabilia store they had at the end of the mall.

After making sure that she would be okay, Jack with a smile on his face said,

"Fine, I'll leave you. But hey you know if you finish early or something, you could you know drop by Victoria's Secret or something and I promise I'll love you forever?"

Kate laughed at him and pushed him away muttering playfully, "You wish Bauer." She then proceeded to go into her first store to try the dress she had been eyeing for months. One that was sure to make Jack's jaw drop when he saw her in it. Forget Victoria's Secret, this dress was enough to make any red-blooded male's jaw drop.

**Later that evening…**

Jack waited impatiently as Kate got ready. Jack had just never understood the whole thing with women and how they always needed so long to get ready. Frankly, all he did that afternoon was pick up a tux, run a comb through his hair, slap on the tux and he was on his way. Kate however, had been in the bathroom for the past 2 hours. She had showered, blow-dried her hair, painted her nails, applied her makeup, changed her hairstyle, changed it again and reapplied her makeup.

Finally, when all was done, she called down to Jack,

"I'm ready!"

Jack muttered to himself "finally" before walking towards the bottom of the steps to wait for her.

And what he saw next made him catch his breath. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

She was wearing a strapless red dress that hugged her curves just the right way and her hair was put up into a careful bun.

She looked down at Jack's gaping mouth and smiled to herself. I knew this was the right dress.

She walked down the stairs and asked,

"How do I look?"

Jack muttered something completely unintelligible before managing to get out a "stunning."

She smiled at his comment and straightened out his jacket while remarking,

"Well, Mr. Bauer, if I might say so myself, you're looking quite handsome yourself."

Jack beamed at her comment and puffed out his chest, and then he suddenly dipped her kissing her squarely on the lips and whispered huskily,

"You know I think it'd be best if we just skip this party. I mean how much can go on tonight?"

Kate playfully shoved him away and countered,

"Not a chance Bauer. We're going to this party and you know my father will come and beat you into a pulp if you're not there. Especially after I tell him what you had in mind instead of attending the party."

She gave him a sly look and then proceeded to say,

"But after this party's over, I'm totally up for coming back here and having a little fun ourselves…"

Kate then grabbed Jack's hand as he led her towards the car. Grinning as he led her down the steps, Jack thought to himself, this party can't end quickly enough…

**Monday evening in Richmond, Virginia…**

Tony sat in on his first meeting and couldn't help but be floored by how different his co-workers in Virginia were from those back in L.A. He could already tell that these guys were good at what they did, but that none of them had the whole Jack Bauer, "I'll kick your ass with or without permission," attitude.

They were all sticklers for the rules. Going so far as to even telling him about coffee room protocol, in which if you saw a dirty dish or cup lying in the sink it was your duty as a good American citizen to go and wash it before everything piles up.

It was like working with fifty Chloe's.

Tony chuckled as he remembered back to the time where he had simply told Chloe that her personality was annoying him. But it was true. Chloe O'Brien was the best at what she did, but hell that girl knew how to piss some people off.

But if there was one thing Tony appreciated was the fact that he was Director of Field Ops. It would at least save him from having to sit at a desk all day filing away information that could be done by almost anyone.

Tony was most confident in the field. He knew what he had to do in situations, making decisive and well thought out decisions. And every time they were just about to follow through with an attack, he felt that undeniable rush of adrenalin flow through his whole system. It was much better than drinking.

Another thing about Tony was that he kept to his no-drinking plan. He hadn't had a drink since Michelle left and it was something he was quite proud of. Even when his co-workers took him out after his first day of work to celebrate, he turned down their offers to buy him a round, saying he didn't drink.

And was he glad he turned those drinks down. That old saying about how cheap beer equals a hell of a hangover the next morning? Well, that was true. The next day when a fair number of his coworkers came in completely hammered, popping down aspirins by the handful in order to try and offset the effect of the "bright" lights at CTU.

At the end of a month, Tony had already made a few friends outside of work. He had gone to the pub a couple of times to watch the games with co-workers and there he met Scott and Colin, who like him, were avid Cubs fans.

And of course, at the moment, the biggest news surrounding the Cubs organization was none other than the fact that slugger Sammy Sosa had been traded off to the Orioles. Tony, although he was arguably one of the most devoted Cubs fans of all time, had never been a big Sosa fan. Especially not after the leaded bat incident. But he found out that these guys were indeed pretty good guys. And for once, he was glad to have friends outside of CTU. His mother had berated him for many years un-end saying how he needed to "broaden his horizons.

However, he chuckled, she did mean for him to broaden those friendship horizons in Los Angeles. Both Scott and Colin were married and they raved about their adorable children and as they did so, Tony couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy rush throughout his body. But contrary to his co-workers, these guys didn't go out to party as much and for that, Tony was grateful. Although he couldn't deny he had his fair share of fun when he was younger, he was now getting older and clubbing to insanely loud music until 4 in the morning somehow didn't seem as appealing.

Both of these guys were family guys, and when they invited him to go to their house for a barbecue, he couldn't help but accept. After all, it was better than sitting alone in a large house watching a Barbara Walters 20/20 special…not that he watched things like that to start of with.

After going to the local grocery store to pick up some dessert, he made his way over to Colin's house and was greeted by both Colin and his wife, Nicole. Colin approached him and said,

"Hey Tony, glad you could make it. And allow me to introduce you to my beautiful wife, Nicole. Tony, Nicole. Nicole, Tony."

Tony shyly extended his hand forward as Nicole thanked him for being so considerate to bring something for them. Tony smiled and said that it was the least he could do after they invited him so graciously into their homes.

Just as Tony was finishing up his thank you, a little girl who looked about eight ran towards Colin screaming,

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Michael's chasing me again with his water-soaker!"

And right behind Emma, sure enough was a guilty Michael, trying his best to hide his super-soaker behind his back as he slowly backed away from the group.

Colin and Nicole laughed as Nicole said,

"You'll have to excuse them. Its summer and Colin over here decided the best gift to buy for Michael's tenth birthday would be a super soaker."

Tony laughed and said,

"Oh, it's no problem. I love kids. My sister has kids and I absolutely adore them."

Nicole smiled and said,

"Well, you just remember how much you love kids' right after they soak you in your brand new clothes. Now, enough about that, let's take you back inside to meet Scott and Lisa."

Scott and Lisa sure enough had what they referred to as "three little terrors of their own." They had triplets. All three of them boys. And all three of them hyperactive beyond imagination. The minute they saw Tony they asked him if he wanted to play baseball. However, Nicole came to his rescue and said,

"Maybe later sweetie, right now Tony's going to stay with the adults and we're going to talk a bit. Now, how about you go out and play with Michael and Emma?"

Just as she finished the sentence, a loud "Crap! I mean, darn it!" was heard from the kitchen. Tony, Colin and Nicole all made their way towards the kitchen and saw Lisa standing in front of what was supposed to be a pork roast of some sort, but now it was just a black lump of meat.

Lisa looked apologetically at Nicole and said glumly,

"So that's why they have instruction manuals…"

Nicole looked at her friend and couldn't help but giggle as she watched the obviously frazzled Lisa try and make it seem as if the pork roast would taste better…charred.

Scott came rushing in at hearing his wife's 'crap' and told everyone,

"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we're on a first name basis with the take-out people."

Lisa playfully smacked him as all of the adults laughed together. And then Lisa finally realized,

"Now that I've managed to ruin what we were supposed to be eating for dinner, anyone got any good take-out menus?"

Colin looked around and said,

"Actually, we've got a couple of burgers in the fridge and hot dogs if you all don't mind having those instead."

Everyone agreed that they would all be fine with having it and then Colin said once more,

"But the only thing is, our grill, haven't exactly had the chance to figure out how it works. I mean we've got all the parts together and the gas and all that stuff but I mean with the kids around we've never had a chance to figure everything out…"

"I can help."

Everyone turned around as Tony spoke up for the first time.

Lisa then said,

"But you're our guest. I mean asking you to cook for us, that's not right."

Tony assured her saying,

"It's okay, I love cooking. And grills are a specialty of mine, I'm pretty sure if you can show me the grill I'll have it up and running in no time."

"Well if you're sure…" offered Nicole.

"Hey, it'll be my way of saying thank you for even inviting me tonight. It'll be a pleasure."

And with that Colin and Scott led Tony towards the grill with burgers and hot dogs in hand.

As soon as they left the room, Lisa and Nicole turned to each other and said,

"Why isn't he married!"

After giggling at how they were each thinking about the same thing Lisa said,

"I mean I know I'm married and all, but damn girl, you have to be blind to not see how good looking he is. He's just got that whole bad boy thing working for him."

Nicole giggled and then offered,

"I totally know what you mean. I mean did you see those eyes? Smoldering. And he can cook! He can actually cook! If I wasn't married to Colin I'd be making a run for him myself!"

As the women inside giggled and gossiped about how great a catch Tony seemed to be, Tony was working his magic outside. Within minutes, he had managed to start the grill and the burgers and hot dogs were cooking steadily. Scott had run off to play catch with his boys while Colin stayed back, in charge of grilling the vegetables and the hot dog buns.

Ever since meeting Tony, Colin had always wondered about whether or not Tony had a girlfriend. He knew there was no wife involved because of the lack of the wedding ring, but Tony had never mentioned a girl or anything. Colin had always thought that it was just because he was new to the area and still hadn't managed to find anyone yet, but he had always wondered, why did Tony leave L.A.?

So seeing as how neither of them were talking much at the moment, Colin asked him,

"Hey, I was just wondering, I mean if you don't wanna answer the question its fine, but how come you left L.A.? I mean isn't L.A. the promise land? With all the lights and beautiful women and Hollywood and all most people wanna go to LA and not leave. So, how come you left?"

Tony decided that it really wouldn't bother him to tell Colin the truth, seeing as how it's not likely he knew about anyone Tony had been affiliated with in L.A. So he replied,

"Lot of things happened in L.A. Just kind of made me realize that I needed a new start. Nothing bad of course. Not like I killed a man and now I'm on the run or anything. Just personal issues."

Colin nodded his understanding and replied,

"I know what you mean. I grew up in New York with all the big city life while Nicole, she grew up in North Carolina. Our lifestyles were so different and when we first met, I never thought we were gonna work out. But now that I've settled down here, I've realized I don't miss the city life all that much. Sure I miss Broadway and the five star restaurants, but I love being able to raise my kids here away from the pressures of city life. I love seeing them grow up and playing in the backyard instead of simply playing on the balcony of some tiny overpriced New York apartment."

Tony voiced his agreement saying,

"Yeah, this is pretty great place to raise a family. I mean coming from L.A. I know how hectic life can get and with so many things going on, being a kid's gotta be hard in the city. You see advertisements for so many things and there's always the pressure of society telling you to do this and do that. But out here, it's almost like this is what life was meant to be like. A family living out here, watching their kids grow up instead of watching TV all the time."

As soon as Tony finished answering he heard the burgers begin to sizzle and knew that they were ready. He told Colin,

"Well, I reckon dinner's ready. So what'll it be? Burger or hot dog?"

Later that evening when everyone had eaten their fill, the kids were once again running around outside playing soccer this time while the adults sat by the picnic table chatting away. Scott was first to voice his appreciation of a good home cooked meal,

"Well Tony, I must say, this is most certainly better than the take-out we eat on most nights."

Lisa agreed with him saying,

"It most certainly is, and if I wasn't tied down to Scott over here, I'd take you right home to be my own personal chef."

Scott feigned a look of hurt as everyone else joined in laughing.

Nicole then asked him bravely,

"So, Tony, you're a great cook, you're not all that shabby looking and you like kids. What's the catch?"

Tony smirked and answered,

"There is no catch. At least not one that I'm aware of. I was married actually, but things didn't work out and she ended it. So right now I'm here looking to start over."

Lisa and Nicole nodded understandingly as their men looked on and they instantly knew what was on their minds. The girls wanted to play Miss Match.

Lisa then cautiously offered,

"Well Tony, if you're ever looking, I do believe we have a few friends who would be dying for some company…"

Tony laughed and said,

"I do appreciate your offer and maybe after I've settled in a bit more, I'll take up on your offer."

But inside of his heart, Tony had no intention of taking up Lisa's offer. He simply didn't want to offend her. He knew that from now on the only girl in his life other than his family would be Tugger. Otherwise, it was highly unlikely he would fall in love again. And just as he started to think about his future, Bradley, Tyler and Brayden ran over to the adults exclaiming,

"Dad! Colin! Tony! You guys wanna play?"

Tony looked over at the two couples sitting beside him and said,

"Is it alright if I do? I think my legs could use a workout or two."

Scott said,

"Alright, but just let me warn you. They're a couple of endless balls of energy. They're like that Energizer Bunny. They just keep on going and going. They won't stop once you start."

So as the men went towards the kids to play, the women were once again left alone and that was a dangerous thing. Lisa said to Nicole,

"Did you notice how he got real quiet right after he said his wife ended things?"

Nicole replied,

"From the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be too over her. She must have been a real special girl if he's not over her leaving him yet. And foolish."

"Foolish?" Lisa questioned.

"Foolish to leave a man as good as that one." Nicole answered.


	11. The Surprise

**A/n:** I decided to post these two chapters together simply because it gets the story flowing quicker. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy, and please do review, it really helps me to know what you guys want to see and constructive criticism is great and you guys are really great at giving it! Thank you! Enjoy!

**Chapter 11 – The First Meeting**

**In Los Angeles…June 2005**

After a few months, Michelle fully recovered from her injuries suffered at the hands of Brett. Sure she had a headache from time to time but that was nothing new. A month after her release from the hospital, she had told her parents that she was fine and that they could return home to Chicago.

Despite her parents protest, Michelle had insisted telling them that Carly and Jeffery missed their grandparents and that they should return home to Chicago. So determined were Susan and John to stay with Michelle that even when they got on the plane and were halfway back to Chicago, they called her using the airline phone and asked her if she wanted them to come back. Michelle laughed at their attempt and reassured them for the millionth time that everything was fine and that she was fine.

Michelle then started to plan her move to Seattle. Ever since she had gone to Seattle to restructure Homeland Security, she had fallen in love with the city. It was a relatively large city, but it didn't have the L.A. traffic (well, at least not as bad) and a new job as Division head of CTU Seattle had just opened up.

Upon hearing of the availability of this position, Michelle immediately applied. Within a few days CTU Seattle had called her back saying that they would love to have her join their team. She was by far the most qualified applicant and her references raved about how responsible and dependable she was.

Unbeknownst to most people, Michelle had not left California after leaving CTU. She had mainly transferred to CTU San Diego. There she worked as director of CTU, but with everything that had happened in the past few months, Michelle decided that a change in pace would probably be the healthiest thing for her. She needed to start her life again, and Seattle was the perfect place to do so.

**In Los Angeles…May 2007**

Jack was sitting in his living room watching the game as the Dodgers played the Yankees. His Dodgers were up by four and he was indeed very pleased. It was his first day off in a long time. However, if he did have a complaint it was the fact that he wasn't exactly able to sleep through the night. Not that he minded of course…especially when it meant him spending a blissful night with **her**.

She silently crept out of the bedroom after waking up and proceeded to try and tiptoe towards him. However, she was no match for him as he had already heard her approaching but for her sake he wanted to humor her and pretend he had no clue she was coming. When she reached him she placed her arms around his chest to which she sighed.

He playfully picked her up from behind the couch and swung her around until she was in his lap. He smirked at how cute she looked in his oversized Dodgers jersey and his boxers. He nuzzled his face against her soft skin and then proceeded to kiss her softly on the lips. She smiled at him in adoration and kissed him back.

Jack smiled to himself and thought about how lucky he had been to find her again. How lucky he had been that she had taken him back despite everything that had happened. And as he looked at her, she stared right back into his eyes, grateful for the fact that she was once again in the strong arms of Jack Bauer.

Jack remembered when he had told Kim he was back with her. She had been thrilled. Out of all of her father's girlfriends (as weird as that sounds its true) she had been Kim's favorite. She was attentive and caring, she was loving and funny, she was indeed the perfect woman for her father and Kim knew of this.

Soon she giggled and Jack asked her,

"And what, Miss. Warner are we laughing about?"

Kate looked at him and said simply,

"You. You looked so deep in thought for a moment. So deep in thought that you missed Derek Jeter hit that grand slam. And by the way, my Yankees are now ahead of your Dodgers 4-2."

Jack's eyes whipped towards the screen and he couldn't help as a "crap" escaped his throat as he saw none other than Derek Jeter round third base en route to his grand slam. Now if there was one thing Jack had to criticize about Kate, it had to be the fact that she was a Yankees fan. Honestly, who in their right mind would be a Yankee fan unless they were from New York?

One thing Jack loved about Kate was how she could be his everything. She could be playful and feminine when the situation called for it, but she wasn't high maintenance. Despite the fact that she had grown up quite wealthy, she didn't feel the need to buy outlandishly expensive clothing, instead, preferring to buy clothes that were comfortable. Jack also adored how she could sit down with him and watch a game and have a couple of beers. Many of the other girls he had dated demanded that a date meant that they had to go to some five class restaurant while dining with fine wine. Sure Kate liked those things, but she also liked it when they stayed home and simply enjoyed take-out and watched a movie.

However, in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers rallied with a 3 run inning and much to Kate's dismay and to Jack's delight, pulled ahead of the Yankees 5-4. Jack cheered triumphantly as his team pulled off the come-from-behind victory which secured them a berth in the playoffs. By then, both of them had gotten quite hungry and decided to go out for lunch.

As Kate stepped out of the car in a flowing floral sundress, Jack couldn't help but be wowed by her beauty. She had delicate features that were all accentuated by the dress. She grabbed his hand playfully and led him towards the restaurant they were going to, a small bistro called Le Petit Zinc. They ordered and enjoyed their meal together as Jack wondered how on earth he had been lucky enough to meet someone as great as Kate.

Indeed, he knew that he would want her in his life for oh the next sixty? Seventy or so years? Yes ladies and gentlemen, marriage was on Jack Bauer's mind. He had already asked Bob Warner for Kate's hand in marriage and Bob had readily conceded, knowing that Jack was a good man and would be perfect for his beloved daughter. The only question was when should he ask her? Jack had debated this for many days and frankly, he still had no idea. The ring was with him at all times in case he decided that there was a perfect moment and that he should just get down on one knee and propose, but that perfect moment he so desperately wanted hadn't happened yet and he would have to wait at least a little bit longer.

After finishing off lunch, Jack and Kate made their way towards the mall. Kate needed to pick up a dress for the evening's festivities. Warner Enterprises was having an appreciation party for their employees and Kate and Jack were invited to partake in what was sure to be an evening of partying.

Kate insisted that Jack go off by himself while she shopped for her perfect dress. When he protested telling her he wanted to spend the afternoon with her, she had told him that he would just have to wait. She wanted to surprise him in her dress so he would just have to go off to the arcade or something. Jack laughed at the idea of him going and playing inside an arcade, instead opting to go to the sports memorabilia store they had at the end of the mall.

After making sure that she would be okay, Jack with a smile on his face said,

"Fine, I'll leave you. But hey you know if you finish early or something, you could you know drop by Victoria's Secret or something and I promise I'll love you forever?"

Kate laughed at him and pushed him away muttering playfully, "You wish Bauer." She then proceeded to go into her first store to try the dress she had been eyeing for months. One that was sure to make Jack's jaw drop when he saw her in it. Forget Victoria's Secret, this dress was enough to make any red-blooded male's jaw drop.

**Later that evening…**

Jack waited impatiently as Kate got ready. Jack had just never understood the whole thing with women and how they always needed so long to get ready. Frankly, all he did that afternoon was pick up a tux, run a comb through his hair, slap on the tux and he was on his way. Kate however, had been in the bathroom for the past 2 hours. She had showered, blow-dried her hair, painted her nails, applied her makeup, changed her hairstyle, changed it again and reapplied her makeup.

Finally, when all was done, she called down to Jack,

"I'm ready!"

Jack muttered to himself "finally" before walking towards the bottom of the steps to wait for her.

And what he saw next made him catch his breath. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

She was wearing a strapless red dress that hugged her curves just the right way and her hair was put up into a careful bun.

She looked down at Jack's gaping mouth and smiled to herself. I knew this was the right dress.

She walked down the stairs and asked,

"How do I look?"

Jack muttered something completely unintelligible before managing to get out a "stunning."

She smiled at his comment and straightened out his jacket while remarking,

"Well, Mr. Bauer, if I might say so myself, you're looking quite handsome yourself."

Jack beamed at her comment and puffed out his chest, and then he suddenly dipped her kissing her squarely on the lips and whispered huskily,

"You know I think it'd be best if we just skip this party. I mean how much can go on tonight?"

Kate playfully shoved him away and countered,

"Not a chance Bauer. We're going to this party and you know my father will come and beat you into a pulp if you're not there. Especially after I tell him what you had in mind instead of attending the party."

She gave him a sly look and then proceeded to say,

"But after this party's over, I'm totally up for coming back here and having a little fun ourselves…"

Kate then grabbed Jack's hand as he led her towards the car. Grinning as he led her down the steps, Jack thought to himself, this party can't end quickly enough…

**In Richmond…July 2008**

Tony woke up to the sun at approximately six in the morning. This had become a habit of his. The sun rose early and frankly Tony liked waking early in the morning. He'd go for a quick jog before heading off to work. After settling in, he had bought himself a dog as well, a German Shepherd named Big. Big had been the biggest puppy of the litter so the breeder Tony had bought him from coined him Big to which Big happily responded to.

Luckily, Big got along fine with Tugger and they only had the occasional squabble. Tony had settled into life quite well considering what he had left behind in L.A. Work was fine as well. His new colleagues were all impressed by the work he did in the field and he had managed to gain a lot of respect in these past couple of years. Tony was responsible for the prevention of many domestic terrorist attacks and indeed, he was to CTU Virginia what Jack was to CTU LA.

Indeed, both men were kindred souls. Although they hadn't got off to a very good start by the time they had left one another, they were more like brothers than anything. Sure neither agreed with the other on everything but they understood each other. A understanding and a respect that was deeper than just words.

Both men were tortured souls in some aspect or another. They were both forced to make difficult decisions and in their line of work difficult decisions came by the truck load. Both men had lost their first wives in some way or another. Jack for a long time blamed himself for Teri's death and couldn't move past the fact that he wasn't able to protect the one person he cared most about. Likewise with Tony. Immediately following Michelle's attack Tony had secluded himself from the world, afraid to fail someone just like he had failed Michelle.

Unknown to Tony, shortly before he left, Jack had placed a letter inside his bag. In the letter he wrote about how they had caught the guy that had hurt Michelle and that he was none other than Brett. Tony had half a mind to go back to L.A. and kick Brett's ass for what he did to Michelle but knew that it would do no good. Jack also told Tony that Brett pleaded no contest in his trial and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Tony had wanted to go back to L.A. but something in his gut told him that it was time to move on. What was the use of fighting for something that wasn't even there? He had wasted far too much time pitying himself over his loss and it was time for him to move on. And move on he did. Not in a romantic way though.

That was one of the things Nicole and Lisa and many of their single female friends never understood. Both women had set him up with many of their eligible friends who were more than thrilled to be going out with Tony. Tony was attentive and caring and he was respectful, but as soon as the relationship started to get serious, he shied away. He knew it wasn't fair to the woman he was dating to lead her on, but he also knew that he wasn't really ready for another serious relationship.

All of them ended the same way, as soon as the girl he dated asked the dreaded "Where are we in our relationship" question he broke it off. Citing personal issues and while Nicole and Lisa never told anyone the story of his mysterious ex-wife, they knew that she had something to do with it.

And for now, Big and Tugger were as much companionship as Tony needed.

**In Los Angeles…August 2008 **

Jack grimaced as another floral dining pattern was presented before him,

"Red rose or dusty pink?"

To him they all looked to same. He pointed to the first one whatever color that was as the wedding planner nodded agreeing with his choice.

Where's Kate? She should be making these decisions. I should just be sitting around doing nothing. Actually, I should be sitting around watching the game. The Lakers were playing.

Jack and Kate were finally planning their wedding. After a relatively short engagement, they decided to get married. Jack however, couldn't care more about the floral patterns being shown to him. All he cared about was that he was going to marry Kate. Nothing else mattered.

Kate, however, was running around like an excited school girl. Thrilled that she would finally get to plan her own dream wedding. She watched Jack's expression as he pointed to yet another floral pattern that the wedding planner showed him. She giggled as she saw his confused and tired expression. She knew he hated this, but he was just so adorable picking out things for their wedding. Who would ever imagine the invincible Jack Bauer sitting around picking out wedding details?

However, after seeing Jack's exasperation at yet another piece of cloth being brought for him to chose, she entered the room. Upon seeing her, he sighed a huge sigh of relief and immediately went towards her saying,

"Thank God you're here. I have no idea what I just chose. It was some sort of pink crap or something like that. But it had a fancy name. And then that woman made me pick out something cream colored…"

He rambled on about how he knew nothing about what she wanted for the wedding and how he didn't want to pick out anything else and that whatever she wanted was fine with him so long as it didn't have him wearing a pink tux.

She laughed and pulled him close for a kiss to which he asked,

"What was that for?"

Kate lovingly replied,

"For making me the luckiest woman alive."

Jack beamed and kissed her again as Kate sighed in content.

Kate thought back on how Jack had proposed and couldn't help as her heart began to flutter just a bit. He had been so romantic that even she was shocked. Jack wasn't a person who was big on public displays of affection and that's what surprised her most.

They were at yet another dinner held by Warner Enterprises. This time, a late spring dinner. During dinner, Kate had noticed that Jack was a little quieter than normal, but she thought nothing of it. It wasn't unusual that Jack would be quiet around strangers…especially strangers she worked with. And when dinner ended, the appreciation awards started. All of a sudden Bob Warner had asked Jack to get up on the stage with him and Bob had said,

"This award goes out to a very special person in both of our lives. She's been an indispensable asset to Warner Enterprises throughout the years. And the fact that she is my daughter makes me even prouder to present her with this award. Jack, would you like to do the honors?"

Jack had accepted and he invited Kate to come onstage to accept her award. Kate was genuinely surprised as no one had told her she would be receiving an award of any sort. When she arrived to the platform people in the audience started yelling 'speech! Speech!' to which she unwittingly conceded.

Kate had no idea what to say. She thanked her father, the company, her co-workers, and most importantly, Jack. She said,

"Without you Jack, I wouldn't be where I am today. You bring meaning to my life and I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. I love you."

With that, she moved towards Jack who had been standing behind her and gave him a quick kiss of appreciation. When the kiss ended, Jack told her to look behind her to a screen as he had his own little surprise for her.

Kate turned around to a large TV screen that had the words on it: "Look behind you."

Kate turned around and what she saw next made her gasp.

Jack looked up at her from one knee and said,

"Kate, you see, the thing is, I love you. And I'm going to need you in my life for quite some time. Say, the next seventy or so years. And well, the only way to ensure that some strapping young man doesn't steal you away from me is to ask you to be my wife. So Katherine Elizabeth Warner, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Tears started to flow as Kate heard Jack's heartfelt words and she over her tears, she gasped out,

"Yes! Yes! I would love to be your wife!"

Jack's face broke out in a huge smile as he heard those words escape her lips and immediately set about to put his ring on her finger. And as he got up, he kissed her passionately. Meanwhile, all of Warner Enterprises was cheering loudly for the newly engaged couple and upon getting off the stage, Bob was the first to congratulate them on their engagement.

And that had been the most perfect night of her life…

Well, she was sure that her wedding night would be even more perfect, but up until that moment, nothing else mattered. The only thing that mattered was that she was going to become Mrs. Jack Bauer, and nothing else could have made Kate happier.

As Jack left the room to check up on invitations, something he assured her he could totally handle, she went back to talking with their wedding planner, Emily. Kate had wanted a huge wedding, but instead of wanting it outdoors she wanted it in a Church. They had talked for days about when to have their wedding and both Jack and Kate decided that they would like a fall wedding. Preferably a wedding under the October moon. Kate had thought it was romantic, while Jack had simply said that he didn't mind October.

In the other room, Jack was doing a final check through of the invitations that were to be mailed. It was now mid August and their wedding was to be on October 12th, and Kate had insisted that it was common courtesy to mail out wedding invitations early so that people were going to be able to plan ahead. He looked through some of the invitations that were in his pile. Kim and Chase and their kids obviously were to be invited. His parents. His brothers and their families. Chloe O'Brien and her boyfriend. Edgar Stiles and his wife. Michelle Dessler, other CTU co-workers that he had gotten close to in the passing years. And one of the last names on his list, Tony Almeida.

He had kept in touch with Tony throughout the years and he had hoped that Tony would be able to make the trip all the way from Virginia. Tony had told him that he loved his new life in Virginia and that everything was going smoothly, even work. But Jack knew how hard it was to get even a day off much less a couple of days off from a job like CTU. They were in constant need of personnel and just because it was someone's wedding didn't mean that they could all just drop their work and let the terrorists do their thing.

He looked over his list once more, and upon confirming that everyone that was supposed to be on it was, he proceeded to stuff the envelopes. He took one look at Michelle's envelope and remembered that he hadn't actually told her about his engagement yet.

In fact, they hadn't really kept in contact after she had left for Seattle. The occasional Christmas card was sent, but other than that, their contact was limited. He wondered how she was doing. He wondered how she was holding up. And instead of mailing Michelle's invitation out to her, he decided to give it to her personally.

Jack was scheduled to go to Seattle next week with Kate to meet with her grandparents and he figured he could spare some time and personally tell Michelle that he was getting married. After all, she had been a very good friend of his and had stuck by him regardless of the situation. He owed it to her to tell her personally. So while all of his other invitations were mailed out that day, he kept Michelle's with him. Hoping that he would be able to track her down and tell her the good news himself.

**One week later…**

After meeting with Kate's grandparents, Kate and a couple of her friends went off to the malls to do some shopping while Jack went searching for Michelle's house.

It hadn't been hard to get her personal information, after all, a Code 7 security level entrance didn't keep much secret from Jack Bauer. He had managed to locate the area in which she lived in but he had a little bit more problem locating the exact house. It was a quiet suburban area, a nice area Jack decided.

After much searching, he finally located her house 7839 Willowbrook Crescent. He went to the door a little anxious at her reaction at seeing him for the first time in almost three years and knocked on the door. And when the door opened, he opened it to the very surprised face of Susan Dessler.

"Jack! Jack, my heavens! What are you doing here?"

Jack smiled as he looked down at the friendly woman and gave her a quick hug before saying,

"Well, I was in the area and I just thought I'd drop by, I've got an announcement to make…I'm engaged."

Upon hearing that he was engaged, Susan had wrapped him in a huge hug and said jokingly,

"Well then, Mr. Tough Guy finally found himself a lady friend! Who is she and when can I meet her?"

Jack laughed at her reaction and said,

"You'll get to meet my soon to be wife very soon Susan. I've come to invite you all to my wedding in October."

Susan clapped her hands excitedly and said,

"Michelle will be thrilled to know you're engaged! Oh, just imagine, Jack Bauer engaged! I'm so happy for you!"

Jack smiled at her excitement and then politely asked,

"Is Michelle home? I was hoping I'd get to tell her myself instead of simply mailing along an invitation. That way it'll also be harder for her to say no to the wedding invite."

Susan looked at Jack and said,

"Michelle's in the backyard. I'll take you there. She's probably reading. Oh, she'll just be so excited for you!"

Upon being led to the back yard, Jack thanked Susan for her hospitality and set about going outdoors before Susan pulled him back with a word,

"Jack. I think it might be best if you don't mention his name. I've tried to talk to her about but every time I so much as bring up his name she simply gets agitated and leaves."

Jack nodded understandingly, knowing exactly who Susan was talking of.

As Jack approached the backyard, he noticed how spacious it was. Indeed, it seemed to almost have a little forest of its own in the background. But as he approached the swinging chairs, he saw Michelle sprawled out clearly engrossed in a book.

He approached her quietly, wishing to surprise her at the very last moment and upon seeing the title of the book he asked her quietly,

"Is that any good?"

Michelle was surprised at hearing a strange but familiar voice and when her head shot up, she was even more surprised that it was none other than Jack. She ran towards him and cried,

"Jack! What are you doing here! I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been? Oh my gosh, I don't even know what to say! How have you been?"

Jack smiled at how excited she was and told her that he had something to tell her saying,

"I've got something to tell you Michelle."

Michelle eagerly awaited him telling her and said impatiently,

"Jack Bauer you know I'm not a very patient woman. So, out with it! What is it that made you come all the way up to Seattle to tell me?"

Jack looked almost shy for a moment before saying,

"I'm engaged."

Michelle let out a girly shriek of surprise and happiness as she wrapped her arms around Jack saying,

"Congratulations! Who is she? When do I get to meet her?"

Jack laughed and said,

"You know. That's exactly what your mother said when I told her. I guess like mother like daughter huh?"

Michelle giggled and asked again,

"So…who! Tell!"

Jack said,

"Kate Warner. We got back together a couple years back and I've realized that she's the one I'm meant to be with forever. And I just popped the question and thankfully she said yes."

Michelle hung on to Jack's every word, happy for her friend. Jack had gone through so much and he had risked so much for his country, it seemed only fair that he was happy now.

Just at that very moment a little boy approached Michelle and said,

"Can I go use the computer? I promise we won't play any of those shooting games like we did last time. Honest!"

Michelle smiled at him and said,

"Lucas, do you promise me you won't play any of those violent games you were given?"

The little boy Lucas nodded his head up and down in earnest as he waited for Michelle's answer.

Jack was slightly surprised at the sight of the little boy, but Michelle seemed to be completely unphased. Jack assumed that this young boy was probably another one of Danny's kids, but he felt it strange that he hadn't seen Danny or any sign of Danny in the house. But nonetheless, he looked at the young boy with great curiosity.

Michelle then took the little boy by the hand and said,

"Lucas, I would like you to meet a very good friend of mine. This is Jack Bauer, he used to work with me in Los Angeles."

Lucas' eyes were immediately drawn to Jack and his eyes widened at the sight of Jack. Lucas looked up at and not knowing what to do he simply smiled at this strange man in front of him. Jack couldn't help but smile back at the little boy who was now sitting on Michelle's lap.

And after a moment of silence between the three, Michelle finally spoke up again, saying to Jack,

"Jack, I'd like you to meet my son, Lucas."


	12. The Sins

A/n: As I'm sure you know, Jack works in a field where he doesn't know if he'll be alive tomorrow. That has to weigh heavily on him. Based on a personal level, it took my father five years to propose to my mother. My father served in the Marine Corps for many years and from what he's said the reason he took so long to propose was that he didn't think it was fair to propose to my mother while he was in such a high risk job. However, if it makes you feel better I'll go back and change the dates a bit. And as for the question about who took care of Lucas while Michelle was recuperating, I didn't realize that I'd have to specify a name for a family friend or a babysitter of some sort, but if you really want it I can make one up on the spot. The fact that Michelle had been called in from another city to help CTU LA would mean that she would have known that she would be in L.A. for some undetermined amount of time, therefore, as a responsible mother, she would have surely gotten someone to look after her child. And I'm sure that working at a demanding job like she does at CTU, she'd probably have a full-time nanny of some sort.

* * *

**Chapter 12 – The Sins of the Father**

Smile. Smile. You have to smile. Smile at the little boy. Lucas. Her son. Michelle's son.

As those very words left Michelle's mouth, Jack tried his hardest to not look shocked. Even all of his CTU training was of little help as he couldn't help his face from breaking into a lopsided grin. While Lucas looked back him beaming from ear to ear, Jack gave him a half smile complete with the raised eyebrows. Actually, he looked quite creepy and Jack was a little surprised that Lucas hadn't run away in fear after seeing Jack's face.

Lucas looked at Jack and treaded cautiously,

"Where do you work, sir?"

Jack was surprised by how polite this little guy was and said earnestly,

"I work with CTU Los Angeles. I help protect Americans from bad people who try to hurt us."

Lucas' eyes widened at this revelation and eagerly pressed on,

"Do you carry a gun, sir?"

Jack laughed at his eagerness and replied,

"Not as much as I used to. I'm Director of CTU LA now. I used to carry one a lot though. But right now I've got nothing on me. I do have a badge that you can see though."

Lucas nodded in excitement at the prospect of seeing Jack's real badge. He had gotten a fake one for his last birthday, but a real one was much cooler.

As Jack took out his badge and showed it to Lucas, Lucas' eyes glowed in admiration. He decided that Jack Bauer was one of his new heroes.

Michelle watched on as Lucas was clearly captivated by Jack. Not very many people dropped by Michelle's house so Michelle knew that Lucas was probably more excited to see a stranger than anything. She hadn't made all that many friends and the only visitors that normally dropped by were either her parents or Danny, so Jack's visit was welcome indeed.

Jack looked at Lucas once more and asked politely,

"How old are you little guy?"

Lucas looked at him and proudly answered,

"Five and three quarters – almost six, sir."

Jack nodded his understanding and said to him,

"Well, you're growing up to be quite a man aren't you?"

Lucas beamed at his compliment and smiled back at Michelle as to say, 'see, he thinks I'm old!'

Finally, Michelle noticed how Lucas had indeed gotten his jeans dirty with mud and sighed in exasperation,

"Lucas, your clothes are all dirty! What were you doing this time? Rolling around in the mud?"

Lucas took one look down at his clothes and sighed, and Michelle knew why. Asking a little boy to keep his clothes was about as impossible as tasks came. It probably would have been easier to ask him to jump off the roof then for him to keep his clothes clean even for a day.

Lucas sincerely apologized for dirtying his clothes, and then he asked Jack excitedly,

"Mr. Bauer, may I go show my Grandma your badge?"

Jack's eyes glistened and he replied,

"Sure thing, kiddo. Just be sure to bring it back after you're done, alright?"

Lucas vigorously nodded his head up and down and promised to bring it back as soon as he had finished with it, leaving Jack and Michelle alone to talk.

As soon as Lucas was out of ear-shot, Michelle stood up and began to pace nervously around the backyard. She knew what question Jack would ask. She waited for it nervously and finally Jack spoke up asking,

"Is he really yours?"

Michelle nodded and proudly answered,

"My very own."

Jack nodded his understanding and then proceeded to comment,

"A very handsome young boy. You've raised him well. He's probably more polite than I am most of the time."

Michelle chuckled at Jack's reference to his lack of manners. But it was true, Jack had the no-nonsense attitude and most of the time proper etiquette just wouldn't have allowed him to do his job. Asking a terrorist politely when the next attack was just wasn't as effective as screaming at the top of your lungs, "WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE!"

"But…"

Michelle turned around as Jack spoke up once more and Jack finished off saying,

"I've noticed you don't wear a ring on your left hand so I'm assuming you haven't married again, but I'm not completely ruling out a possible boyfriend or anything. But that little boy, Lucas, who's his father?"

Michelle did not want to answer this question and instead turned away from Jack walking towards the back of the yard. Jack followed her, reluctant to let this one question to unanswered. He had his suspicions from the way the boy looked his hair, his eye color. They were all reminiscent of one man.

However, Michelle knew that Jack wouldn't give up so easily. He wouldn't simply leave her alone if she refused to answer him. He'd keep pressing her for information until she finally gave it; after all, it was Jack Bauer they were talking about.

Uneasily, she spoke in a voice much quieter than before and said,

"I've only ever been with one man…"

Jack tried to process these words in his mind and realized that without a doubt she was talking about none other than Tony.

"Tony…"

Jack said the name easily. Knowing for certain that this boy was none other than a certain someone's son. He even looked like Tony. He had Michelle's hair, but almost everything else about this boy screamed his father's name.

Just as that name escaped his lips, Michelle tightened up considerably and tried to control herself as a shiver passed through her body at hearing **his** name again.

By now, Jack was confused. Why wouldn't she tell him she had his son? How could she have managed to keep this secret for almost six years? How did any of this even make sense? As his brain over flooded with questions, he asked Michelle again,

"How could you not tell him? How could you not tell Tony that you had his son?"

Michelle turned away once more and stared fiercely at the ground, finding it far more intriguing than the prospect of answering Jack's question.

Michelle wrapped her arms around her small frame as a shiver ran through her blood. She knew that she couldn't hide this secret forever. But even then, she hadn't wanted anyone to find out. She had hoped that she could just move on with her life, forgetting that he had ever even come into her life.

But as she spoke these words, she knew that it was not true. Every single day, she had living reminders of him. Although she very rarely admitted it, she knew how much Lucas looked like his father. Indeed, he was the splitting image of Tony when he had been younger. The same eyes, the same smile, almost the same attitude. Lucas was confident, just like his father.

Jack went through the details again, almost six. She had left almost six years ago.

"You left Tony because you thought he wouldn't want to have a child? You had him alone."

Michelle nodded as she knew she couldn't hide this from him any longer. She finally summoned up all of her courage and said bravely, but still quietly,

"I told my parents that I'd be leaving him. They were confused and so angry with me. They demanded an explanation, especially my father. I had been brought up in a very traditional family and the thought of me having a child alone was unthinkable. But I insisted that it would be best for me and for…for him. My parents kept pushing me to explain. To give them one good reason as to why I thought that raising children alone would be a better option."

Michelle never told them what had happened. She never told anyone what had happened. She firmly believed that if she told anyone, it would get out and she would never be able to forget. Not her parents, not her friends, no one. All she said was that they both needed to move in different directions in their lives.

Then suddenly, as Jack replayed Michelle's words over in his head, he noticed the plural use of child. She had said "children." Did she mean that figuratively? Or was there another child of Tony's?

Jack followed Michelle as she made her way back into the house and when she arrived, a little girl bounded up to her. The little girl looked about Lucas' age and Jack couldn't help but realize how much this little girl looked like Michelle. Jack stood a foot behind them and watched as they interacted, Michelle said to the little girl,

"Have you been playing cops and robbers with Lucas? You know I don't like you guys playing violent games…especially when you know Lucas is much stronger than you."

The little girl tried to squirm away from Michelle's hands, and for the first time noticed Jack and with eyes just as big and curious as Lucas' she looked up at Jack. Jack noticed her curiosity and proceeded to bend down until he was eye to eye with the little girl and stuck out his hand saying,

"Hey there, I'm Jack, I'm a friend of Michelle."

The little girl giggled and said,

"I'm not allowed to call mommy by her first name. My name's Lauren."

After the little girl confirmed that she was indeed another one of Michelle's children, Jack grew curious. Who was her father? Michelle had mentioned that Lucas was stronger than her, so did that mean she was younger than him? Who was her father? So he decided to ask once more,

"And how old are you little lady?"

Lauren giggled at how Jack had called her little lady and with her fingers she stuck up five fingers and then said, but I'm almost six!"

Twins. Thought Jack. She had twins. These are Tony's twins. Michelle after realizing that Jack had come to the realization that both Lauren and Lucas were Tony's kids, told Lauren to go off and play while she talked to Jack.

Lauren, though disappointed that she would have to leave the new guest, did as her mother told her. And just as she made her move to leave, Lucas appeared with his fake pistol in hand yelling, "I've got you! You're arrested!"

Lauren giggled gleefully and ran off as Michelle held out a hand to Lucas bringing him to her. She said gently,

"I thought you weren't allowed to play violent games Lucas."

Lucas looked up at her guiltily and said,

"It wasn't violent. Honest."

Michelle couldn't help but be completely taken by how adorable he looked when he was trying to hide something from her. Jack laughed at Lucas' attempt to convince his mother that he hadn't been doing anything wrong and said easily,

"Well, I'm sure you'll be off to save the world one day."

Lucas grinned at Michelle from Jack's words of praise and said triumphantly to Michelle,

"See, mom! I'm going to save the world one day!"

Jack laughed at the interaction between mother and son and then said quietly,

"Just like your father."

Lucas' eyes whipped up at the mention of the word father and said quietly,

"You knew my dad?"

Jack nodded his head saying quietly,

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends. A great man."

Lucas nearly jumped at that and asked him desperately,

"What's his name? Where is he? Why isn't he here with us? Why'd he leave us? Why doesn't he love us?"

Jack was completely taken aback by this and was trying to figure out the best way to answer Lucas' questions before Michelle interrupted saying gently,

"Lucas, I've told you this before. He's gone. He's not going to come back, and I want you to stop thinking about him, okay?"

Lucas' eyes refused to meet Michelle's. In his young heart he still imagined that one day his father would come back to their family and that his mom would be happy again. His little eyes were very perceptive indeed for ever since he had awoken one night and seen Michelle crying herself to sleep; he knew that his mother wasn't very happy.

And it didn't help that all of his other friends in Kindergarten had daddies. At the beginning of the school year when they had all been asked to make up a family tree, Lucas and Lauren's were the only two that didn't have a daddy. The other kids occasionally alerted Lucas of this fact and even made fun of him sometimes saying that his daddy didn't love him and that he left.

Lucas had grown to become very defensive, especially of his sister. One day in the school yard a couple of older boys were making fun of Lauren and how her daddy wasn't living with them and Lucas had pounced on them. Despite the fact that he was almost half their size didn't matter to him. All that mattered was keeping the hope alive that someday his daddy would come back for them and that they could all be a family again. Him, Lauren, his mom, and his dad, a real family.

Michelle lifted Lucas' chin until his eyes met her and as it did, she couldn't help but push down a small cry as she noticed that she wasn't just looking into Lucas' eyes, she was also looking into **his** eyes.

She told him gently to go off and play with his sister, to which he begrudgingly left. He had wanted to ask Mr. Bauer more questions about his father. He had wanted to know his name. Wanted to know what he looked like. Wanted to know if his father even loved him…

When Lucas had left the room, Michelle shook off her initial shock, rubbing her eyes she said to Jack,

"Jack, please. Don't talk of him around my children. I don't want them to wonder about him at all."

Jack not backing down simply argued back,

"You haven't even told them about their father? Michelle, they deserve to know who their father is! Just as much as Tony deserves to know that you had two of his kids! How could you not tell him of this?"

Michelle tired at being attacked for not telling Tony about his children simply said,

"I don't need them wondering about him. I don't need them questioning whether or not he loves them. As the answer is already so obvious."

Jack argued back saying,

"You act as if he's dead! Lucas and Lauren don't know a thing about their father! They don't even know his name for Christ sake! He's not dead Michelle, and he IS their father. He has a right to know that he has two beautiful children."

Michelle sighed and said instead,

"Maybe it'd be better if he was gone. Then at least they wouldn't ask questions about him."

Jack finally realized how defeated and how much it hurt Michelle to even speak of Tony. He didn't understand. What on earth could Tony have possibly done to make her keep even the news of his children away from him? He pressed on gentler this time, asking,

"What did he do? What did he do to you Michelle? How did he hurt you so badly?"

Michelle sniffed back a tear as she simply conveyed her thoughts to him instead of directly answering his question,

"Do you remember all those years ago that night I met you at Firefly?"

Jack thought back to that night. Of course he remembered. It was the night Michelle left Tony. She had come out crying and refused to tell him what had happened. He answered somberly,

"Yes."

Michelle continued, her voice obviously choked up from emotion,

"I found out that afternoon that I was pregnant. I was so happy. I couldn't believe it. I was having his children. I was having Tony's children. I left work early to go and surprise him at work about the news. You have no idea how happy I was Jack. After the year we had both gone through I couldn't have been happier. I had wanted children for years and finally my dream was coming true.

And I went. I was on top of the world when the doctors told me I was pregnant. I was in shock, but I was elated. Nothing could break my spirits. Nothing but one man."

By now, tears were flowing down her cheeks and she choked back another sob and continued to talk saying,

"But then I saw something. With my very own eyes. Something that made me realize that Tony didn't love me anymore."

Jack looked at her and immediately counter argued saying,

"Michelle, that's impossible. I know Tony almost as well as you do and I know that he would never stop loving you. Whatever you saw, it can be fixed. I know it can. You guys just have to talk face to face and everything will be alright again. I promise you."

Michelle looked at Jack's hopeful face and said dolefully,

"I wish I had as much hope as you had, Jack. But I know that in my heart nothing will ever be the same again. It's time I just move on, just like he did. It's best for the both of us. Trust me, Jack. I know it is."

Jack sighed as he realized that nothing he said would make Michelle change her mind and she had obviously been upset by his bringing up Tony so he tried to change the subject. Instead asking her if she would like to come to his wedding to which she replied with as much excitement as she could muster at that present moment,

"Of course I'll come! I've been waiting for this day for years and now I most certainly won't miss it!"

But inside her heart, she wondered only one question…would **_he_** be there?


	13. The Wedding

**A/n:** It's odd really for me to be reading some of your reviews, of course they're all very helpful, but one question I feel I should address is regarding Michelle and how she has handled things regarding her children with Tony. So the million dollar question...is Michelle a bitch? Should she have told him about his kids? Probably. But would her not telling him ever be justified? Maybe.

First off, I'd like to say that regardless of what I write in the story, it is fiction. So onward we go. I would like to remind everyone that **all** Michelle saw was Tony kissing another woman. There must have been millions of questions she could have also been wondering. Did he love this other woman? Was he seriously involved with her? How long had this been going on? Michelle most definitely would also have questioned whether or not Tony even loved her. All of these questions were left unanswered in her mind. Without a doubt in my mind, and hopefully yours, Michelle does love Tony and I'm sure you've all heard the quote, "If you love someone enough, let them go."

That is what I've been basing Michelle's character on. The fact that she loved Tony enough to let him have his own life. How is she to know whether or not Tony had been sleeping around with the skank from the earlier chapters? She hasn't a clue. But, (I know this might sound unrealistic, but that's just how my reasoning goes…blame it on the overdoses of Starbucks) all Michelle ever wanted was for Tony to be happy. Even if that meant it wasn't with her. Telling him about a child would almost force him into playing a role Michelle wasn't sure he wanted to play.

Children are meant to be a blessing, and if Michelle wasn't even sure whether or not Tony 1)wanted children 2)wanted to be with her- she'd have to question whether or not it was fair to almost trap him into a relationship he possibly didn't want to be in. Tony from what I can take from his character is above all, a responsible person. He would clearly want to take responsibility for his children but at the same time when Michelle saw him with another woman, it made her question him not only as her husband, but also a potential father. Am I making her out to be a martyr? No, her character definitely has flaws, but that is reality. No one is as perfect as they are made out to be in many movies or stories.

Also, I think it's very important to realize that you as readers know exactly what happened and how it was all a large misunderstanding and merely a moment's error. Michelle has no idea about all this. She only knows what she saw that day. From what she assumes, Tony could have fallen madly in love with this woman and Michelle could have been only a passing interest.

In addition to that, Michelle only wants what every mother wants for their children, the best. To take a leap of faith forward she'd not only be risking her own heart, but also the hearts of her children. What happens if Tony didn't want them? Children though young are very perceptive and Michelle's simply protecting her children. She can take the heartbreak, she can move on, but her kids. That's something different. It's that mentality that you'll jump in front of a car for your children. You'll do whatever it takes to protect them from being hurt.

I am not trying to make you all fall madly in love with Michelle's character, and neither am I trying to make you all fall madly in love with Tony's character. I am merely trying to show you all that both of these characters have their flaws. They both suffer from mistakes whether they be intentional or accidental.

However, one thing I have managed to get from all of you is that you would all love to see a happily ever after Tony/Michelle reunion complete with all the trimmings. Although I will try my best to grant to your wishes, I still haven't decided how to end this. I'm right now at a crossroads between two paths and I've written both chapters for both routes. I'm merely deciding which one to post.

Wow, that was a lot of me blabbing. Sorry if I bored you to death, I truly am. I really do appreciate all of the reviews you have given me, thank you all. So without further delay, here's Chapter 13. And again, if you would review, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

* * *

**Chapter 13 – The Wedding**

**In Virginia…September 2009**

When he opened up the contents of the letter, he could hardly believe his eyes. He had the read over the words a few times making sure that his eyes wasn't playing tricks with him.

_You are cordially invited to the wedding of _

_Katherine Warner and Jack Bauer,_

_which will be celebrated on _

_Saturday, October 18th, 2008_

_in Los Angeles, California._

_Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible._

_Thank you in advance for joining us on our special day._

He chuckled to himself and said to no one in particular,

"So, Jack's not quite as tough as he makes himself seem to be."

And from an outsider's view point, Tony would have been completely right, as the invitations sent out were complete with frilly pink bows at the corners and if Tony was right, he also detected a small smell of some sort of perfume that had obviously been sprayed onto the invitations.

Tony and Jack had kept in touch over the years and Tony was glad that his friend had finally found someone special to spend the rest of his life with. He knew that it had been hard for Jack to just settle down with anyone. Most women weren't exactly keen to be marrying a man whose life was at risk almost every day.

So finally, after years of dedicated field work, Jack had called up Tony and said that he would be resigning as Head of Field Ops at CTU, instead he would now be Director of CTU which would hopefully allow him to provide a somewhat stable life. He had originally planned to quit the job altogether, but upon Hammond's request that he stay and help run CTU from a Director's position, he couldn't help but accept.

Jack had told Tony the main reason he had wanted to resign as Head of Field Ops was so that he would be able to marry Kate. He knew it was unfair of him to ask her to marry him when he couldn't even ensure her his survival next week. So after changing fields, he finally mustered up the courage to ask Kate to marry him. And thankfully, she had said yes.

Tony was thrilled for his friend. He knew that Jack was happiest around Kate and that Kate made him a better person. She made him laugh, she calmed him down, but most importantly, she loved him. Kate and Jack had come down to Virginia a year ago to visit him and he couldn't help but be slightly jealous of how in love they were. Kate smiled whenever she was around Jack and Jack had never looked happier.

They both complimented Tony on how nicely he had fixed up his house. Indeed, in the past two years Tony instead of committing himself to a serious relationship had committed himself almost full time to renovating the house. He had taken out pretty much all of the carpet from the main floor and recarpeted the upper level. In addition to that, he had also renovated the outside of the house, giving it a completely new paint job and rehinging the shingles that had almost fallen off.

It was the type of house you expected to see in like a magazine with an almost eerily happy family posing in front of it with a golden retriever and their two perfect children. After his renovations were complete, Tony had many offers from people to buy the house. The value had skyrocketed since he had made the changes and tidied up the formerly weed-infested backyard.

However, despite the fact that many people made very generous offers on the house, Tony declined. He liked the house. Sure it was big and probably way too big for a man and his dog and cat, but this was a house he had renovated with his own two hands. He felt some sort of connection to this house and frankly, he liked it so he kept it.

Upon seeing Tony's newly renovated house both Nicole and Lisa had prodded their own husbands nonchalantly hinting as to say "Why isn't our house like this? You should do this for our house." The men had been pretty impressed with what Tony had managed to do with the house, but what they were most impressed with was the 62" inch Plasma TV screen in Tony's game room.

Tony's house in reality was one massive bachelor pad. He had the whole works downstairs in his game room, a pool table, a bar, a huge TV, even an old Juke box he had managed to find. The main floor was simple but at the same time, elegant. Nothing too flashy or too bright or too girly as the guys would say.

His new life was going pretty well if he might say so himself. Work was good, home was good. Everything but love. He had never brought another girl to his house. He didn't know why but it just didn't feel right. Tony wasn't a man to just simply have a one night stand with a woman. He wanted to be fully committed to a woman before the relationship turned physical. It wasn't fair to him or to the other woman if he didn't feel anything serious for her. So instead, he lived the life of a secluded bachelor.

He and Nicole had become close over the years. She reminded him very much of his younger sister and despite the fact that she was constantly trying to set him up with her endless barrage of single female friends, she had been a good friend.

However, one of the things he did enjoy was babysitting for the kids. Whenever Colin and Nicole wanted a romantic night out they would drop off Emma and Michael at Tony's place. The kids loved Tony's place. Tony's place had a game room and a huge TV and he let them stay up as late as they wanted! Sometimes Lisa and Scott would drop their boys off at Tony's house and the first thing they all did was run to the backyard and make a make-shift diamond and play ball.

The boys always fought over who got to have Tony on their team because he was bigger and stronger and could outrun all of them, but recently it had been all three boys versus Tony which they thought was the most fair. Another thing the kids loved about Tony was how he didn't treat them like they were kids. He talked to them as if they were adults and didn't talk down to them like a lot of other adults would.

All of a sudden a loud bark brought Tony out of his thoughts and he looked over to Big who was sitting there with a guilty look on his face. He then looked behind the dog and saw that he had managed to knock over a lamp. He laughed as he looked at how Big seemed to have known he did something wrong. And as he turned back to the invitation, he looked at the date and wondered if he had anything on that day. That day sounded familiar. It almost seemed as if he already had something to do that day.

And upon looking at it closer he realized that that was the day he was going to be interviewed for a possible promotion. Shit, he thought to himself. The one day out of all days to have an interview, it had to be on Jack's wedding day. He knew that Jack would be disappointed that he wouldn't be able to attend, but he hoped that they would understand that he had his hands tied. He couldn't miss out on this interview, it could be completely career changing.

If he made this job, he wouldn't have to do field work anymore. He'd be promoted to Director of FBI Investigations. This would be a huge jump up the working ladder and Tony knew that he couldn't pass up on this opportunity. Disappointedly, he called up Jack and apologized profusely for not being able to attend their wedding but wishing them the best of luck.

Jack, although disappointed, understood Tony's situation. Jack knew that this could be the chance of a lifetime and unfortunately it just so happened to coincide with his wedding date. He thanked Tony for his well wishes and told him that he had better get that job or else he'd have Jack to answer to.

**In Los Angeles…October 2009**

Michelle always knew she had perfect timing. She, Lucas, and Lauren had arrived in Los Angeles from Seattle the day before the wedding and what had happened? She had caught the end of Lauren's nasty cold. And it probably didn't help that their flight had been delayed so she ended up spending an ungodly number of hours in the stuffy airport with two restless children. Lauren on the other hand, was fine now. As excited as a little girl could be, she was simply excited at the possibility of seeing a wedding for the first time. She had seen Cinderella's wedding a while ago and for the past three months, that had been her new fixation. So to be invited to a real life wedding was absolutely thrilling for her.

Unfortunately for Michelle, her parents had gone back to Chicago a few days after Jack's visit and there was no one around to help her handle two very excited and active six year olds. She tried her best to keep them entertained but they were just endless bundles of energy. The only thing that had kept them still was while they were both watching "Finding Nemo" on the plane.

After going through customs and picking up her bags, Michelle went outside to go and hail a cab to take them to the Warner Estate. Kate had graciously offered to house Michelle and her kids during their stay for the wedding. Both Lauren and Lucas were absolutely in awe of Los Angeles. They had never seen so many cars on the road! Every which direction they looked, there were cars everywhere!

Michelle giggled as she saw her children's adorable reactions to their new surroundings. But as she looked through the window of the cab, she couldn't help as the memories came rushing back to her. She hadn't visited Los Angeles since she last left it. The last couple of memories she had of Los Angeles weren't exactly stellar. And as they were driving along, she suddenly realized the road they were now traveling on.

And sure enough, she passed by the sign…**_Firefly_**.

She gasped and had to push down a small sob as her eyes passed over the place where a previously invincible love had been reduced to nothing but memories.

She remembered the very day her life was destroyed. The eleventh of August. She had just finished her checkup at CTU and had been informed by doctors that she was a little more than two months pregnant. And after leaving him, her life changed forever.

Michelle stayed in Detroit until Lauren and Lucas were born. Megan had been by her bedside when she had given birth to the twins and Michelle could never thank Megan enough because she knew better than anyone that Megan was terrified of any sort of blood, injury or pain, but Megan stuck with Michelle throughout the whole 24 hour ordeal. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. And what a special day it was. February 29th, 2004. Both of her twins had a leap year birthday. Sure it caused Lauren and Lucas some confusion at first as to why their real birthdays would only happen every four years, but pretty soon they began to think it was cool as none of their other friends had leap year birthdays. After the twins were born, her parents had later flown in from Chicago, apologetic that they had missed the birth of their grandchildren, and at the same time ogling and awing at how beautiful these little bundles of joy were.

Michelle smiled as she looked lovingly at her children and remembered back to the day that she held their tiny bodies in her arms for the very first time. It had most certainly been a moment of joy, but at the same time, a moment of sadness as she thought back on how Tony wasn't there to see the birth of his children. She had always wondered what would happen if he had found out that he had two children with her.

Would he care? Would he try and be their father? Or would he simply ignore them acting as if they had all been one big mistake of his life? In addition to those questions, one question had plagued her for many years, had he remarried? Did he have children of his own? Was he a good father to them? She sighed as she realized that it was very likely Tony had moved on with someone else. She knew that he was a very attractive, loving, wonderful man and well, those kind of men weren't on the market very long.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Lucas and Lauren both excitedly yelling, "We're here! We're here!"

Sure enough they had arrived at the Warner Estates and upon helping her children scramble out of the cab, she was greeted by none other than Kate.

Kate took one look at Michelle's children and couldn't help but immediately notice the resemblance between Lauren and Michelle and Tony and Lucas. They were most certainly their parent's children. Kate greeted Michelle with a big hug saying,

"Oh, Michelle! It's so good to see you again! How was your trip?"

Michelle returned Kate's hug and replied,

"It's so good to see a familiar face again! I'm so happy for you and Jack! Our trip was alright, tiring though."

Kate nodded her head in understanding and then looked down at Lucas and Lauren who were by now hiding behind Michelle, each peeking out from either side behind her legs. Kate bent down until she was eye to eye with the two of them and asked gently,

"And you must be Lucas and Lauren. I'm Kate."

Lauren was the first to say something and she asked timidly,

"Are you the bride?"

Kate smiled at Lauren and said,

"That would be me."

Lauren's eyes instantly glowed as she ventured forth asking,

"Is your dress pretty?"

Kate giggled at Lauren's eagerness and answered,

"It's very pretty. How about tomorrow morning when I'm trying it on I'll show it to you?"

Lauren's eyes widened in excitement as she eagerly nodded her head in agreement. Michelle looked down at Lucas who at the moment looked far less interested than Lauren at the prospect of seeing Kate's wedding gown. Indeed, it had been a valiant struggle to even get him to buy a suit. Michelle had dragged him to store after store trying to find a proper suit while Lucas had sulked the whole way. He even asked her at one point,

"Can't I just go in my bathing suit? That's a suit!"

At that very moment, Jack came out of the house and upon seeing Michelle and her kids, he quickly made his way towards them. Upon reaching them, he gave Michelle a quick hug and thanked her for coming while reaching down to ruffle Lucas' hair. Lucas looked up at him with big eyes of admiration and immediately asked,

"Do you have to wear a suit tomorrow? My mommy's making me wear a suit tomorrow and she won't let me wear my bathing suit. Does your mommy make you wear a suit?"

All three adults laughed at Lucas' question and Jack answered,

"I have to wear a suit tomorrow. Otherwise Kate here won't marry me and we can't have that now, can we Luke?"

Lucas scrunched up his face and said,

"Sick! Girls! They have cooties! Well mommy doesn't have cooties, but she's not a girl anymore. She's a mommy."

Kate looked at Lucas and said to him jokingly,

"You just wait, Lucas. One day you'll have so many girls coming after you! You'll be a popular boy with the girls."

Lucas again made a 'gross!' face and proclaimed for all to hear,

"I'm never going to get married! Girls are sick! They eat finger paints and they always try to kiss you!"

All of them laughed again as they heard Lucas' answer. Kate couldn't help but think to herself,

"If you grow up looking anything like your daddy, you're going to be one heck of a heartbreaker one day."

Afterwards, Jack and Kate led them inside to the rooms that they would be staying in. Upon closer inspection, Jack noticed that Michelle looked paler than usual. When Kate had taken Lucas and Lauren out of ear shot he asked her,

"Michelle? You look a little pale. Are you feeling alright?"

Michelle glanced at Jack and said tiredly,

"I'm fine, Jack. I'm just a little bit tired. That's all. I'm sure with a good night's sleep I'll be alright."

Jack glanced at Michelle trying to see if she was telling the truth, but nonetheless accepted her answer for the time being. But the truth was Michelle was not well. She was feeling very sick indeed. She didn't want to tell Jack or anyone else for that matter because she didn't want to do anything to make the wedding any less of the joyous occasion it should have been.

After dinner, Jack and Kate brought out toys for the kids to entertain themselves with. Jack had gotten Lucas a small baseball glove which he instantly fell in love with while Kate had picked out a Princess-Doll for Lauren. After playing for a few hours, both of them were spent and as they proceeded to make their way upstairs, Michelle picked up Lucas and carried him up while Jack picked up Lauren.

After putting the kids to sleep Jack said quietly to Michelle,

"They're great kids, Michelle. You've raised them really well."

Michelle thanked Jack and said,

"I'm sure you and Kate will make wonderful parents. After all, I've seen how well you raised Kim. Is she here yet?"

Jack beamed at the comment and answered,

"Kim and Chase live about half an hour away so they'll probably get here early tomorrow morning. Did I tell you I have a new grandson? Jonathon. He's three now. Angela's nine now. Jon's the ring bearer and Angela's our flower girl."

Michelle smiled as she saw how proud Jack was of his little grandchildren and said jokingly,

"Well, I can't wait to meet the little Jonathon. If he's anything like his grandfather I'll bet he's a real stubborn one."

Jack chuckled at her comment and finally noticing that she was getting tired said to her,

"You should probably get to bed. It's late and you look like you could use a good night's sleep…If you need anything don't hesitate to ask either Kate or myself."

Michelle thanked Jack for his hospitality and told him to tell Kate the same and as Jack left the room, she showered quietly and then fell into a deep slumber hoping that by tomorrow she'd feel better.

**The next morning…**

Michelle woke up not feeling any better than she had the previous night. Instead, if anything she felt worse. Her headache had increased tenfold and she was pretty sure she was running a fever by now. However, determined to not let that stop her from enjoying herself, she put on some makeup to add some color to her skin and continued on like nothing was wrong.

It was the morning of the wedding and Michelle had put much effort into dressing both Lauren and Lucas into their outfits, careful to remind them not to get their dress clothes dirty. They both rolled their eyes at her incessant pleas that they stay out of trouble and keep their clothes clean.

After Lauren finished putting on her dress, she eagerly went towards Kate to see her wedding gown. Lauren's little eyes widened in bewilderment as she saw how beautiful Kate's dress was. It was a strapless dress, simple, but nonetheless elegant. Her train was beautifully detailed with small details that no one would ever see, but at the same time would make her feel like a princess.

Michelle stared in awe at Kate's dress. She had no idea a dress could ever be that beautiful and as Kate saw both of their reactions, she couldn't help but smile. She then tentatively asked Michelle,

"Do you think Jack will like it?"

Michelle replied with all a sly grin said,

"Honey, when he sees you in that dress, he's going to just fall over in shock. And I promise you, he'll love it, but trust me, he'd rather get you out of it."

Kate giggled at Michelle's response and she hoped that Michelle was right. It had taken her ages to choose the perfect dress and when she had finally found this one she had just fallen in love with it.

At that moment Angela rushed in with her hair all done up properly with little Jonathon waddling behind her. They both rushed to Kate and gave their soon to be "step-grandmother" a big hug. Kate adored both Jonathon and Angela, they had always been so warm to her and never ceased to bring her a smile to her face even after their grandfather had managed to royally piss her off.

Michelle smiled at the interaction between Kate and Kim and Chase's children and then proceeded to go downstairs to go and greet them both. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Kim looked up and greeted Michelle with a warm hug. She exclaimed,

"Oh my God, Michelle! How have you been? How are your kids?"

"It's great to see you again, Kim! I've been good and the kids are great. They're just upstairs with Angela and Kim. How have the two of you been?"

Chase smiled brightly and with a loving glance at Kim he replied for the two of them,

"We've been great, things couldn't be going better."

Kim smiled up at her husband and gave him a quick kiss before nonchalantly saying,

"Don't you think it's time you go upstairs and check on our little rugrats to make sure they aren't causing too much trouble?"

Chase looked at the two women and said knowingly,

"And that ladies, is my cue to leave. I'll leave the two of you to your little girl-chat session."

Michelle laughed at Chase's response and when he had left them alone she said pointedly to Kim,

"You've caught yourself a smart one."

"Smart? Hardly. I had to train him, but it's worth it."

Both women giggled as they proceeded to catch each other up with the goings of their life.

**Back at Jack's place…**

Jack had spent the better part of the morning getting himself ready for his upcoming wedding. From the moment he woke up he couldn't help himself as a huge smile spread across his face. He looked at his watch as it read 12:40pm. The wedding wasn't for another 4 hours and seeing as how he didn't have to do much in term of hair and makeup he plopped himself down in front of his TV and caught the end part of the Clippers game.

At approximately one thirty in the afternoon, Chase came over saying that the women had shooed him out of the Warner estate as it was time for "girl time." Jack welcomed his best man in warmly, although Jack was at first wary of Chase's intentions with his daughter, he had grown to love Chase like his own son. He was a good kid. Reminded Jack a lot of himself when he was younger.

The men sat together and enjoyed a very nutritious lunch of beer and chips while watching the ever hapless Clippers lose yet another game. Absolutely nothing could ruin Jack's day. They both reminisced about their many days at CTU and when Jack mentioned that Chloe was now married, Chase spat out some of his beer and said shocked,

"No kidding?"

"Nope. She finally found some guy whose about as crazy as she is. I mean I love her like a sister, but man she's a stickler for rules. Last time I went on over to her apartment she told me that in order to make sure it was actually me, I had to declare my name and profession loudly on the other side of the door. You have no idea the weird looks I got from her neighbors when I screamed out,

"JACK BAUER. FEDERAL AGENT."

Both men laughed heartily and as Chase went into the kitchen to grab some more pretzels, the doorbell rang.

Jack got up from the couch, saying,

"Looks like Curtis and them are here. I'll get it."

Jack made his way towards the door and without looking through the eye hole, he opened his door and it was then that Jack thought his heart almost stopped again.

The man on the other side of the door gave his classic grin and said jokingly,

"Well, you just look about thrilled to see me don't you, Jack?"

Jack's mouth remained open as he stared at the man in front of him. Chase called out to Jack,

"Hey Jack! Where do you keep your bowls? All I see here are forks and plates!"

Upon hearing no response, Chase began to move his way towards the door and upon seeing the man Jack was staring at he silently said to himself,

"Holy shit…"

The man spoke up once more and said to Jack,

"Come on now, man. You didn't really think I'd miss your wedding did you?"

Chase approached him and said,

"Tony. Holy crap it's been a long time. How have you been?"

"I've been good, Chase. How are you and Kim? Doing well I hope?"

"Yeah, me and Kim are doing great."

All of a sudden out of nowhere Jack spoke up and said,

"Son of a bitch. You said you couldn't come to my wedding! How the hell did you get out of that interview? And don't you dare tell me you gave up that interview just to be here."

Tony laughed at his old friend and said,

"No, no, nothing like that. Hell, I know better than to do that. If I had done that and come to your wedding you would have kicked my ass and trust me, I wouldn't have come almost 3000 miles to get my ass kicked by you even if you are Jack Bauer…Turns out the person they were supposed to interview yesterday dropped out so they did my interview yesterday instead. You are looking at the new District Director of FBI."

Jack beamed at his friend and said wholeheartedly,

"Congratulations, man. You deserve it."

"Hey, it's your day to be congratulated today. It's not everyday Jack Bauer decides to go and get himself hitched now is it?"

All three men laughed and within a few minutes, Curtis and the rest of the men had arrived at Jack's house.

They played poker for a while trying to get the time to pass and then it was time for them to get ready for the wedding. Jack needed to be there at least an hour and a half before the ceremony and everyone else needed to be there half an hour in advance.

Right before Jack left, he told Curtis,

"Curtis. Make sure Tony stays far away from Michelle and her kids and vice versa, okay? Today is not the day I need to have them both fighting with each other and the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to keep them apart."

Curtis nodded his understanding as Chase and Jack went on their way.

Edgar had recently got married and was raving about how great married life was to a less than enthused Tony. Tony was trying his best to act interested but truth to be told he just wanted to tell Edgar to just keep quiet…even if it was just for a moment. Anything. Any silence at all.

Luckily for him, Curtis came to his rescue and said,

"Well, Jack and Chase just left. We'll have to be leaving in a bit so Edgar get ready."

Edgar looked down at himself and said,

"I am ready."

Curtis looked him up and down once more and said to him,

"Your shirt's inside out."

Edgar looked down at his shirt and sure enough he had managed to put it on inside out. He embarrassedly went off to fix his shirt as Tony chuckled to himself.

Finally, after making sure Edgar's shirt was right side out, the three men left Jack's house and made their way towards the Warner residence. Upon arriving, Curtis immediately said to Tony,

"Let's get to our seats. Jack said they were good ones…which, knowing Jack, probably means we won't be able to see any of the wedding at all."

Tony laughed but sure enough their seats sucked. Like royally sucked. They were placed behind two massive CTU guards that Tony didn't recognize. They saw all of three seconds of Kate walking down the aisle in her dress. The rest of the wedding was nice…well at least Tony was sure it was nice. He couldn't really tell seeing as how he couldn't see much. Little did he know that not 100 meters away from him sat Michelle and their children.


	14. The Dress

**A/n:** Be forewarned, this is a shorter chapter then most. Again, thank you for the reviews. They're most helpful. And if you have the time, please review at the end. Thanks in advance.

**Chapter 14 – The Dress**

After the reception, all of the guests were invited into the Warner's backyard for the reception. Tony was accompanied by Curtis and upon making their way outside they were instantly bombarded by a barrage of waiters asking whether or not they wanted crab cakes.

Curtis told Tony that he was going to get a drink and asked if Tony wanted anything to which Tony denied. Instead, Tony tried to locate Jack and Audrey to send them both his best regards. He looked around and upon seeing that they were surrounded by almost half the guests he decided that he would wait until the crowd died down around his two friends.

Being at the wedding brought back memories of his own wedding. It had been so long ago but the images were still fresh in his mind. He knew that he should move on and just forget but it was much easier said than done. After daydreaming for a few more moments, he shook himself out of his fruitless endeavor and proceeded to move towards Jack and Audrey whom by now were only surrounded by a few people.

Just as he was making his way over, he heard the voice of a little boy and a little girl, with the boy saying,

"Watch out, Lauren!"

And before Tony could turn around to look at whose voices they were a little girl ran promptly into him.

She stumbled back and fell down as her brother came forward saying,

"I'm sorry, sir. Lauren didn't mean to run into you. We were just playing...and we didn't see...and we're really sorry!"

The little boy who was now talking to Tony looked almost ready to burst into tears and his sister was no better. However, his sister seemed much more concerned with the state of her dress than she was at having bumped into a stranger.

Tony gently chuckled to himself and lowered himself down until he was eye-level with both the little boy and his sister, Lauren. He gently said,

"Don't worry. I know it was an accident."

As soon as Lauren remembered that she had actually ran into someone, she immediately apologized and after apologizing she instinctively stepped behind her brother.

Tony noticed this and he couldn't help but smile at how adorable these two children were. Tony had always loved kids and he gently said,

"My name is Tony. What is your name?"

Lucas, the ever brave one, ventured forth talking to this man and said,

"My name is Lucas and this is Lauren..."

Lauren tugged eagerly at her brother's sleeve and whispered,

"My dress is dirty! What will I do? Mom will be mad!"

Tony heard her quiet whispering and said,

"Well, I may not be wearing a pretty little pink dress like you Lauren, but I know how hard it is to keep your good clothes clean. I'm sure your mother will understand. But how about we go inside and I get you some water so you can wash out a bit of that dirt?"

As Tony finished asking him, he realized how their parents probably would have taught them not to follow or even talk to strangers. So he offered,

"Don't worry, I'm a friend of Jack's."

At the mention of Jack's name, Lucas' eyes brightened and a little part of him told him that this Tony person was trustworthy, so he took Lauren's hand and followed Tony into the house.

Tony brought the children to the first floor washroom and after finding a small stool so that Lauren would be able to stand and reach the sink, he left her to her privacy and went outside to wait for her.

Lucas observed Tony and asked,

"What do you do, sir?"

Tony was surprised that Lucas would talk but answered him, saying,

"Well, Lucas, I used to work with the FBI. I track down people who commit crimes and I make sure that they aren't out there to hurt good people of America."

Lucas nodded his understanding and just as he was about to ask Tony another question, Lauren came out of the washroom and said,

"Luke, I'm done. Do you think my dress looks okay?"

Lucas nodded his head absentmindedly, while Tony again bent down and said,

"Well, I must say Miss. Lauren, you certainly do look much prettier in that dress than I would!"

Lauren giggled at the thought of a full grown man in a dress and then said quietly,

"Thank you for your help!"

Tony smiled and told them that it was no problem and as they all went outside, Tony said to Lucas and Lauren,

"Lucas, Lauren, if it is all right with you, I would like to meet your mother later on. She must be a wonderful woman if she has raised two such polite children."

Lucas nodded his head in agreement, and just before he ran off he points and says,

"You can right now, sir. She's right over there. In the pale pink dress with the brown hair. She's standing beside Aunt Kate."

And sure enough who else would be in the pale pink dress?

None other than Michelle Dessler.


End file.
